Oil, Singapore, Nova Scotia
Your Monday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here’s the latest. |
 | | David Mcnew/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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That has never happened before, and it was a sharp turnaround from January, when a barrel sold for more than $60. Oil prices have plummeted as demand for energy has been destroyed, and the U.S. is running out of places to store the oil nobody’s buying. The S&P 500 fell about 1.8 percent. |
In other business news, the fast-food chain Shake Shack said it would return its $10 million stimulus loan after being criticized for using the emergency funds meant for small, struggling businesses. |
And the Treasury Department is evaluating whether it has the legal authority to stop banks from garnishing stimulus payments deposited into bank accounts with negative balances, according to a person familiar with the matter. |
 | | Tannen Maury/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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At least 1,828 inmates — almost three-quarters of the Marion Correctional Institution population — tested positive at the prison north of Columbus. It continued a trend of fast-moving outbreaks in correctional facilities, which account for four of the 10 largest-known sources of infection. Above, the Cook County Jail in Chicago, where four inmates have died after contracting the virus. |
Testing is also one of the final sticking points in the way of an agreement between Congress and the White House over a $450 billion deal to aid taxpayers and businesses. Senate leaders scheduled a session for 4 p.m. Tuesday, signaling optimism that they could resolve the issue. |
 | | Ore Huiying for The New York Times |
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3. The virus seemed to be under control in Singapore. And then the number of confirmed cases doubled. |
The city-state had more than 8,000 confirmed cases as of Monday, the highest in Southeast Asia. Most of the new infections are in the crowded dormitories where migrant laborers live, like the one above, a neglected area in the government’s containment efforts. |
 | | Mary Turner for The New York Times |
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4. The hidden victims of the pandemic. |
Our Science Desk looked at the patients who fall through the cracks in the coronavirus pandemic: those who have cancer or other life-threatening illnesses and can’t get treatment from overwhelmed hospitals. Some of them have died. |
“People are still having heart attacks, people are still having strokes,” one internist said. “I feel as if there is no awareness of anything other than Covid.” |
Also in hospitals, some nurses are risking their lives thousands of miles from home — like those from the Philippines and other developing nations who have long made up for shortages in Western countries. Above, Jhoanna Mariel Buendia, a nurse from the Philippines. |
 | | Tim Krochak/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press |
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Investigators are seeking the motive of the gunman, a dental health professional who killed at least 19 people in a 12-hour rampage at 16 crime scenes before dying himself over the weekend. The killings shocked Canada, which is already reeling from its coronavirus outbreak. A national vigil will be held online on Friday. |
 | | Sima Diab for The New York Times |
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6. This might be the strangest Ramadan ever for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. |
Our correspondent went to Cairo, known as the city of a thousand minarets, where the pandemic looms over the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. Above, the Bab Zuweyla neighborhood. The sacred period that is rooted in gathering will be replaced by solitary prayer and stifled celebrations. |
One consolation will be the Ramadan TV serials — including soap operas, thrillers and rustic dramas — Egypt is famous for. At least 25 are expected to air this year. |
And whether you observe Ramadan or not, check out our recipes for traditional dishes like lamb tagine and baked Lebanese kibbe. |
7. This week is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. |
Our Climate desk is here to help you celebrate, with coverage rolling out all week. Read our inaugural coverage from that day in 1970, above, when throngs of people packed New York’s Fifth Avenue and other places around the country to show their support. |
 | | via Butterboy |
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After the pandemic shut down venues and crowds, comedians quickly adjusted, telling jokes in online stand-up sets. The virtual shows are often cheaper, and hosts are finding ways to recreate the mood: “Close your tabs” has replaced “silence your phones,” for instance. Above, the online version of the show “Butterboy,” a Monday-night stalwart at Littlefield in Brooklyn. |
Broadway is dealing with its own emptiness. Our theater reporter and a photographer walked the abandoned theater district in Times Square: “The neighborhood feels unsettled and unsettling,” he writes. |
 | | Elsa/Getty Images |
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You can run a marathon at home now, as German Silva, a 52-year-old runner from Mexico, above, did this weekend with friends cheering him on via Zoom. Or go to drive-in tournaments, like the soccer matches in Denmark. |
 | | Dmitry Bogdanov |
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10. And finally, crocodiles once acted a lot like dolphins and whales. |
These Jurassic animals most likely breathed through their noses rather than blowholes. But they evolved the smooth skin and body shapes like those of whales and dolphins today. |
Have a transformative night. |
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