Ping Pong: Day 15. House Republicans this morning answered a Senate proposal, offering to re-open the government and raise the debt ceiling for a few months … but … with a stipulation that Congress, the cabinet, and the President be required to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act without the government subsidy.

 The Senate offer would reopen the government until Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit until Feb. 7. Negotiations on an actual budget would have to conclude by mid-December. Some Republicans described the Senate bill as a “surrender”.

  On the sidelines, economist Robert Reich wrote on The Huffington Post urging the Democrats to hold fast and, “Now is the time to lance the boil of Republican extremism once and for all.”

China’s Xinhua official news agency scolded the US for its breakdown with a commentary that said, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world.”

World: A magnitude 7 earthquake in the central Philippines today has killed close to 100 people on several islands. The quake damaged and destroyed historic churches, including the 1602 Church of San Pedro on Bohol, where the roof collapsed.

National: Authorities are investigating the explosion of two dry ice bombs in the past two days inside secure areas at Los Angeles International airport. The second bomb exploded about 8:30 last night, the first on Sunday. Two other unexploded devices were found. A dry ice bomb is made by putting water in a bottle with dry ice and sealing the cap. It takes up to 30 minutes for the C02 to build up and explode the bottle.

• The Libyan terror suspect snatched from his car by US Special Forces is in New York now. Abu Anas al-Libi, the suspect in the 2008 embassy bombings in Africa, was questioned aboard a Navy ship on the open sea before he was transferred to civilian custody over the weekend. Libi had stopped eating and drinking while he was aboard the ship.

The Ink Biz: The International Herald Tribune, one of the great names in the newspaper business, today became the International New York Times. The name change is part of the Times’ effort to narrow its holdings and concentrate on promoting the Times name. The Paris Herald used to be known in the business as “a writer’s paper”, which means editors let writers sound like themselves. Humorist Art Buchwald once wrote a column for the Trib saying there were only three things worth seeing in the Louvre, “And the rest of the stuff is all junk.”

The Weight House: A medical historian has discovered that portly President William Howard Taft was a pioneer in modern weight loss. Concerned about his weight, heartburn, and sleeplessness, Taft engaged a British doctor who hectored him about portion control. Weighing in at a peak of 314 pounds, Taft managed to drop 59 before putting it back on again. He may have been the original yo-yo dieter. He died at age 72 and 280 pounds.

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