Assange hails Obama – Post-Ramadan bombs kill scores of people around the Muslim world – A woman thought missing in Europe turns up in a drug arrest in a completely different part of the world – And it appears a herd of Elephants is taking a traumatic event very personally.

A wave of post-Ramadan bombings in Iraq has killed at least 91 people.  Most of the attacks were concentrated in the capital Baghdad, targeting both Shi’a and Sunni Muslim festivals, cafes, and markets, although most of this year’s increased violence has been directed against the Shi’a.  Meanwhile in Pakistan, an attack on a Sunni mosque killed ten people, a day after a suicide bomber killed 37, both in the city of Quetta.

US President Obama’s plan to scale back some of America’s vast surveillance programs is being hailed by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.  He says it’s a “victory of sorts” for fugitive former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked the details of America’s vast email and telecom spying.  But Assange is rejecting Obama’s claim that this was long-planned, noting that without Snowden’s leaks, no one would have known about the spying to put pressure on the White House to even consider reforms.

American officials are angry over Mexico’s surprise release this week of a drug lord responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in the 1980s.  The drug lord, Rafael Caro Quintero, is still considered a most-wanted criminal by the us, and authorities believed he was controlling the drug trade from behind bars.

A young woman from Ireland who was thought missing on the Spanish Island of Ibiza, turned up in Peru – Arrested on cocaine smuggling charges.  20-year old Michaella McCollum Connolly’s family had been using social networks to drum up information about her whereabouts.  She was arrested along with 19-year old Briton Melissa Reid trying to fly out of Lima’s International Airport allegedly with cocaine with a street value of A$2.5 million.  Their respective embassies are trying to provide assistance.

Cops in Spain and France swept up an alleged people-smuggling ring headquartered in Barcelona, arresting 75 suspects and seizing several fake passports.  The immigrants from China paid big money and were provided with false papers.  They would mostly end up in the US or UK. 

A doctor and 8 others are being held in suspicion of running a baby-selling ring in northwestern China.  Authorities say obstetrician Zhang Shuxia would tell parents their healthy newborn babies had congenital birth defects, convince the parents to hand the kids over, and traffic the babies.  Despite sentences up to and including the death penalty, baby smuggling goes on in China, with most of the babies being adopted out to the western world.

An erupting volcano in eastern Indonesia spewed hot lava, ash, and smoke into the air.  Six people were killed when it landed on a beach village as most people slept. Mount Rokatenda erupted at 4:27 AM local time on Saturday, spewing ash clouds of up to 2000 meters above its peak.

An unhappy herd of Elephants in Eastern India is mourning the loss of one of their members, and is taking revenge out on the village where the animal was fatally struck by a train, near the Matari station 300 kilometers northwest of Kolkata. They’ve torn down houses and damaged a school.  Villagers have tried firecrackers and drums to try and drive them off, but about 15 tuskers keep coming back and are maintaining a village near the crash site, unusual activity even for the only species other than man to have conduct rituals.