India's coronavirus crisis

How the Supreme Court's decision to hear a Second Amendment case is evidence of its new conservative tide; India will receive international help in its Covid-19 fight. Tonight's Sentences was written by Greg Svirnovskiy. TOP NEWS The Supreme Court will wade into gun laws for the first time in a decade Erin Schaff/Getty Images - On Monday, the Supreme Court announced it will take up an appeal of a lower court ruling that upheld New York’s strict concealed carry law. It will be the first time in a decade that the Supreme Court takes on gun control, a sign of the influence exerted by the Court’s new conservative majority built by former President Donald Trump. [[NPR / Scott Neuman](] - In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that gun rights extended beyond the right to organize in a militia, that they were fundamental for the individual. That decision, authored by Justice Antonin Scalia, was extended by the Court in 2010. Not since have the justices circled back to the topic within their formal duties. [[CNN / Joan Biskupic](] - That inaction has long angered some of the Court’s more conservative members. Justice Clarence Thomas in 2018 said that "if a lower court treated another right so cavalierly, I have little doubt that this Court would intervene." Justice Brett Kavanaugh previously indicated that he’d hoped to revisit the country’s gun laws “soon.” [[CNN / Ariane de Vogue and Devan Cole](] - The case in question is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett; the plaintiffs are challenging New York’s 1913 law that mandates anyone carrying a handgun in public must demonstrate “proper cause” in order to legally do so. They argue that any law-abiding citizen ought to be able to carry a gun. [[Vox / Ian Millhiser](] - The decision to hear the case comes as the United States grapples with a spate of recent mass shootings that have gun control advocates renewing their calls for background checks and legislation. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would take the country in the opposite direction. [[Bloomberg / Greg Stohr](] [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Covid-19 surges in India as hospital supplies dwindle; officials turn to global community for support - White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced over the weekend that the US will send test kits, ventilators, personal protective equipment, and raw materials for vaccines to India as the country grapples with the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak. [[NPR / Kat Lonsdorf](] - India reported more than 352,000 new cases Monday, the fifth straight day that the country has broken the world record for daily domestic cases. [[CNN / Jessie Yeung](] - Doctors are clamoring for supplies on social media and in the newspapers. One hospital in Delhi saw 20 critical patients die after oxygen pressure dropped in the facility. [[NYT / Jeffrey Gettleman, Sameer Yasir, Hari Kumar, and Suhasini Raj](] - Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attracting much of the blame. He effectively declared the pandemic over months ago, after the success of India’s first lockdown, and has been campaigning feverishly for a slate of May elections since January. Modi only stopped holding rallies last Friday, he has encouraged Indians to participate in crowded religious ceremonies, and he repeatedly refused to acknowledge the growing scope of a second wave. [[Time / Rana Ayyub](] - The second wave has been fueled by the B.1.617 variant, which is more transmissible and more elusive to vaccines than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. As places like Brazil and Mexico struggle with continuing spread, there’s an incentive for the global community to help limit the development of variants that can lead to new outbreaks. [[NPR / Michaeleen Doucleff](] - The European Union, led by France and Germany, and the UK have all pledged to provide aid and resources to the Indian health care system. China is in contact with health authorities. Private firms like Microsoft and Google have also promised support. [[CNBC / Saheli Roy Choudhury](] MISCELLANEOUS President Joe Biden will announce Tuesday new CDC mask-wearing guidelines for vaccinated people outdoors. It’s a shift in America’s fight against the pandemic, as more people get inoculated and return to some semblance of normalcy. [[CNN / Kaitlan Collins and Kate Sullivan](] - The Oscars were yesterday, and they fielded the most diverse slate of winners in history. Chloé Zhao took home the nod for Best Director; she’s the first woman of color and first Asian American ever to win the award. As Best Supporting Actress, Youn Yuh-jung became the first Korean actor to win an acting honor at the Oscars. [[Variety / Patrick Frater](] - One massive snub? Chadwick Boseman. The 43-year-old was dying of cancer as he turned in the performance of his life in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He was widely tipped as the favorite, and the Academy seemed to agree when they flipped the order of awards so that the Oscar for Best Actor was given last, perhaps to afford the crowd some poignant moments to remember and mourn the late actor. Instead, the statue went to Anthony Hopkins for The Father. [[The Hill / Christian Spencer](] - Troy Carter has been elected to replace Cedric Richmond in Louisiana in a special election for the House of Representatives. His victory, against fellow Democrat Karen Carter Peterson, was seen as pitting the moderate and progressive sides of the party against each other. Carter, the moderate who embraced GOP support, won easily. [[Politico / Ally Mutnick](] - A dispute between the United States and Kenya means lifesaving HIV drugs are in short supply for the 1.4 million Kenyans who desperately need them. [[Al Jazeera](] Support Vox Sentences “Vox Sentences is my daily newspaper. ... I've learned a lot from these little gifts in my email, and appreciate the work of the Vox staff that helps contribute to a better and more informed world.” –Madeline, Vox Contributor [Contribute]( VERBATIM “Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need.” [[President Joe Biden on Twitter, announcing American aid to India in light of the country's second Covid-19 wave](] LISTEN TO THIS [It's about to be a Thigh Guy Summer | What's the Story?]( You may have noticed that shorts are getting shorter, legs are the new abs, and it’s now socially acceptable to thirst over men with huge thighs on the internet. Vox senior culture reporter Alex Abad-Santos ([@alex_abads]() explains why this summer is all about men’s thighs and why we should care. 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