nation and world briefs

Bombs went off early Sunday in two crowded commercial areas in Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding 61. The bombings came near the end of the holy month of Ramadan when the streets were filled with young people and families out after sundown. In the first attack, a car bomb exploded in the Karada district in central Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding 45. Shortly afterward, an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Baghdad, killing five and wounding 16. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack in the Karada district. There was no immediate claim for the second bombing.

Egyptian investigators said Saturday they would be able to access the cockpit voice recordings of the EgyptAir jet that crashed in May despite damage to the black box. The memory chips in the electronic board were not damaged, the Egyptians participating in the examination of the device in France said, adding that only some connecting components had to be replaced. The flight from Paris to Cairo crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, killing all 66 people on board.

Macedonian police say they discovered 73 illegal migrants in a truck during a routine check early Saturday near Macedonia's border with Serbia. The migrants are from Syria, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Most of them are women with children, police said. The 35-year-old truck driver, a Macedonian, was detained.

A mother killed four of her five children by cutting their throats, and sheriff's deputies found a large butcher knife with what appeared to be blood on it in an apartment where the killings took place, according to court documents filed Saturday. Shanynthia Gardner, 29, of Memphis, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three daughters and one son — all under 5. Their bodies were found on Friday. She was being held without bond.

A 24-year-old man took a wrong turn, crashed through a fence and ruptured a natural gas line in suburban Detroit, causing a dramatic explosion in the wee hours Saturday that forced the evacuation of nearby residents. The towering fireball in Melvindale could be seen for miles in southeastern Michigan and across the Detroit River in Ontario. The driver was in stable condition at a hospital after a friend driving behind him rescued him. Alcohol was a factor in the crash, police said.