Main News of April 1

POLITICS

* Billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov demanded on Monday a revote at the mayoral elections in the Moscow Region’s city of Zhukovsky, where a candidate from his party lost amid vote fraud allegations

WORLD

* The American parents of an adopted Russian teenager, who returned to his country of birth after claiming his adoptive parents mistreated him, say his behavior changed last year when he visited relatives in Russia

* South Korea’s defense ministry unveiled Monday a new plan of “active deterrence,” allowing it to preemptively strike its northern neighbor if any sign of an imminent nuclear or missile attack is detected, Yonhap reported

RUSSIA

* A Moscow court ruled on Monday to keep Sergei Udaltsov, a leftist activist charged with plotting to overthrow President Vladimir Putin, under home arrest until at least August

DEFENSE

* Russia was not obligated to notify Western countries beforehand of its recent snap military exercises, a top Russian Defense Ministry official said

* Moscow on Monday dismissed Tbilisi’s condemnation of Russian military drills in the Black Sea region

SPORTS

* A senior Russian government official dismissed on Monday allegations by Greenpeace that Russia is failing to dispose of construction waste properly as it prepares for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi

BUSINESS

* Russian hydropower holding company RusHydro posted an IFRS net loss of 25.5 billion rubles ($824 million) for 2012 compared with a net profit of 29.5 billion rubles a year earlier, the company said

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