World: President Obama got an ovation in Israel today when he said, “The only way Israel can survive is through an independent and viable Palestine.” Speaking to a receptive audience in Jerusalem he said, “It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of their own.”  The President called for “two states for two peoples.”

 Mr. Obama also said the US would not tolerate the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war. Both the rebels and Syrian military say the other side used chemical weapons in a recent incident but there’s no outside verification. Meanwhile some politicos say Obama’s visit to jump start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is largely symbolic, with little hope of accomplishing anything.

• The president of Cyprus says he’s going to present a “Plan B” to bail out the country after parliament rejected a tax on savings accounts. Cyprus banks remain closed to avoid a run to withdraw money, but Cypriots continue to drain cash machines for all they can get.

National: Nearly half the babies born in the US, 48%, are born outside of marriage according to a new report released at The Brookings Institution. The report also says Americans are also getting married later, an average age of 26.5 years for women.

Late Night: Jimmy Fallon will replace Jay Leno on The Tonight show, the only question is when, reports NY Times television writer Bill Carter.  Leno’s contract expires near the end of 2014. The show would move from Burbank back to New York where it started in 1954. NBC tried to replace Leno with Conan O’Brien three years ago, and brought him back after seven months.

Leno is known for skewering his NBC corporate bosses and making fun of the network’s dwindling audience. Last night he spun a joke off news that scientists might one day clone dinosaurs. “Imagine that. Things that were once thought to be extinct could be brought back from the dead. So there’s hope for NBC.”

Art News: The FBI claims to have a major break in the clever 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, which was the biggest art theft in history. They say they know who did it. Thieves dressed as cops were admitted by security guards and made off with works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Renoir. Two things, though. Despite having claimed to have “cracked” the case, the FBI has made no arrests because the statute of limitations has expired, and they don’t know where the artworks are. Otherwise, case closed.

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