Conservatives block the Pope’s drive to be more welcoming to gays – China responds to Japan’s shrine for war criminals – Ebola’s death toll grows – And more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

A minority of conservative Roman Catholic bishops blocked the Vatican’s proposal to make the church more welcoming to gays and lesbians.  At the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, they voted 118 for the proposed changes, and 62 against – A two-thirds majority was needed for approval.  The proposal would only have recognized that gays and lesbians could bring gifts and talents to the church, and acknowledged same sex unions as providing partners with “precious support”.  It wouldn’t have changed the church’s teaching or opposition to gay marriage.  The church will hold another Synod next year.

Fresh clashes between police and demonstrators rocked the streets of Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district.  Demonstrators donned helmets and goggles to protect themselves against clubs and pepper spray, and of course, the ubiquitous umbrellas were there.  Several protesters were taken away.  Protest leaders will attempt talks with Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday, but officials have consistently signaled that they will not bow to the demonstrators’ demands for free elections in 2017.

China sent coast guard vessels to the East China Sea, near a set of islands claimed by both China and Japan, although the latter nation has controlled them for more than a century.  Beijing offered no explanation.  But it follows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sending a ceremonial offering to the Yasukuni War Memorial Shrine in Tokyo, which venerates the countries war dead alongside several Class A war criminals.  

Ebola’s death toll in West Africa has topped 4,500, and one of the hardest-hit nations is revamping its response.  Sierra Leone’s president says the defense minister would head a new national response center and report directly to him.  The health minister headed the previous team.  With a national death toll of about 1,200, President Ernest Bai Koroma said he had to take the action.

Spanish nurse Teresa Romero continues to improve at Carlos III Hospital in Madrid.  Doctors say her Ebola viral load is plummeting, but she still needs time to recovery from the illness.  American Nurse Nina Pham’s condition was downgraded to fair at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, DC.  Pham’s coworker Amber Vinson is still in isolation in Emory University Hospital in Atlanta; her condition isn’t available, leading to speculation she might have a worse case of Ebola disease than first believed.

PM Tony Abbott is off to Jakarta for the inauguration of Indonesia’s new President Joko Widodo on Monday.  “Jokowi” is the first Indonesian leader to come from ranks of regular folks, and not from VIP military or political families.  Abbott will use to the turn of a page to try and repair ties damaged by revelations that Australia spied on Indonesia.