Our daily voyage around the world

🇷🇺 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison. Navalny first rose to prominence over a decade ago by posting YouTube videos and speaking publicly about what he characterized as vast corruption and opulence among Russian elites under President Vladimir Putin’s government. Russian authorities claim the 47-year-old died of sudden death syndrome – a catch-all term for various causes of cardiac arrest – on Friday, while on a walk at the "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony where he was being held. Navalny’s widow, President Biden, and other Western world leaders blamed Navalny’s death on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is also accused of trying to assassinate Navalny via poison in 2020.

🇯🇵 Japan successfully launched its new H3 rocket into orbit. As part of Saturday’s launch, which came nearly a year after the H3 rocket exploded in its initial launch attempt, Japan released two satellites aimed at securing independent access to space and remaining globally competitive. Japan’s new flagship H3 rocket is designed to carry larger payloads at a much lower cost than Japan’s previous generation of rockets.

🇪🇬 Egyptian officials canceled plans to renovate one of the ancient pyramids at Giza. Last month, archaeologists launched a three-year project to restore the outer layer of granite of Menkaure, the smallest of Egypt’s three main pyramids. A review committee scrapped the project last week, saying cement could damage Menkaure, and that it’s impossible to determine where each block had originally been.