Midday Roundup: Double lightning deaths scare tourists in the Rockies

Deadly storms. Visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado are hiking with caution after lighting strikes killed two people on Friday and Saturday. A 42-year-old woman from Ohio was the park’s first lightning-related fatality in 14 years. A 52-year-old Nebraska man died the next day at a pullout on the park’s Trail Ridge Road. Summer storms can come on quickly in the Rocky Mountains, and Colorado often ranks No. 2 in the nation in lightning strike deaths, just behind Florida.

Headed home. The U.S. government flew about 40 illegal immigrants back to Honduras on Monday. The deported included adults and children who illegally crossed the border and were briefly held at a temporary detention center in Artesia, N.M. Nearly 82,000 migrants from Central America have already been returned this fiscal year, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The U.S.-Mexico border has been flooded with illegal immigrants seeking refuge from violence and poverty in Central America, creating a humanitarian crisis in the South and a political crisis in Washington.

Cigarette shuffle. Cigarette giant Reynolds American is buying its next closest rival, Lorillard Inc., in an attempt to gain more market share in the waning tobacco business. The companies will have to sell some of their brands to competitors to appease regulators. They plan to cut loose Kool, Salem, Winston, Maverick, and Blu eCigs while holding onto Camel, Pall Mall, Natural American Spirit, and Newport. Declining cigarette sales in recent years have hurt tobacco companies, which have responded by raising prices, cutting business costs, and investing in electronic cigarettes.

Commute calamity. A Moscow subway train derailed this morning, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 150 others. The accident occurred at Park Pobedy, Moscow’s deepest metro station. Though terrorism has plagued Russian mass transit in recent years, officials dismissed it as a possible cause of today’s accident.

No peace. An Egyptian plan for a truce in the weeklong Israeli-Palestinian air war in Gaza fell apart earlier today after Hamas started launching rockets at Israel. Egypt presented its plan for a ceasefire yesterday, and Israel agreed to it. But Hamas said it doesn’t trust the Egyptian government, which replaced pro-Hamas President Mohamed Morsi, ousted last summer.