Main news of March 19

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* The Middle East Quartet of international mediators has called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity in East Jerusalem, saying it will "use all powers" to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks

* Israeli aircraft bombed up to six targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday after a Palestinian rocket attack killed a civilian in southern Israel

RUSSIA

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said relations between Russia and the United States have become warmer, but urged fundamental changes

* The Russian government would like to see more active cooperation with the U.S. Congress to facilitate trade between the two countries, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved a long-term policy for the development of the national defense industry

* Russia and the United States are close to signing a new arms reduction treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said

BUSINESS

* U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Washington wants to lift the Jackson-Vanik amendment

SCIENCE

* The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) set a new record by accelerating its proton beams to half its designed energy - 3.5 tera-electron volts (TeV) - early on Friday, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said