VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Roman Catholic bishops on Saturday reversed a historic acceptance of gays, dropping parts of a controversial document that had talked more positively of homosexuals than ever before in Church history.

The document, issued at the end of a two-week assembly, or synod, of some 200 Roman Catholic bishops from around the world, pointed to deep divisions within the Church on issues such as reaching out to homosexuals and Catholics who have divorced and re-married in civil services.

After an initial draft was released on Monday, conservative bishops vowed to change the language on gays, cohabitation and re-marriage, saying it had created confusion among the faithful and threatened to undermine the traditional family.

Gay rights groups expressed deep disappointment with the final version, while the conservative Catholic blog Rorate Caeli hailed it as "a considerable setback for the revolutionaries".

The two-paragraph section of the final document dealing with homosexuals was titled "Pastoral attention towards persons with homosexual orientations". The previous, three-paragraph version had been called "Welcoming homosexuals."

The earlier version spoke of "accepting and valuing their (homosexuals') sexual orientations" and giving gays "a welcoming home". The final version eliminated those phrases and most of the other language that church progressives and gay rights groups had hailed as a breakthrough.

The new version used more vague, general language, repeating earlier church statements that gays "should be welcomed with respect and sensitivity" and that discrimination against gays "is to be avoided".

Catholic Church scraps welcome to gays (video)

Gays Disappointed

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group in the United States, said it was "very disappointing that the synod's final report did not retain the gracious welcome to lesbian and gay people that the draft of the report included".

"Instead, the bishops have taken a narrow view of pastoral care by defining it simply as opposition to marriage for same-gender couples," he said.

The final version stressed that "there is no foundation whatsoever" to compare homosexual marriage to heterosexual marriage, calling heterosexual marriage "God's plan for matrimony and the family".

The earlier version said the church should acknowledge that couples in same-sex relations offered "mutual aid" and "precious support" for each other in times of difficulty.

"People who found hope in the respectful, welcoming tone of the midterm report will be crushed by the removal of that language in the final document. It's just gone, replaced with the same off-putting phrases we've heard for decades," said Marianne Duddy-Burke of DignityUSA, a Catholic gay rights group.

Voting counts released by the Vatican showed that controversial articles, including the final version of one of the two on gays, failed to get the two-thirds majority needed for a consensus.

This indicated that progressive bishops may have voted against them because they felt the language had become too restrictive or watered down.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the entire document would now serve for further reflection among Catholics ahead of another, definitive synod next year.

In his final address to the gathering, Pope Francis, who had called on the bishops to speak their minds frankly, said he would have been "worried and saddened" if there had not been such heated, honest discussion during the gathering.

The pope also warned against both "hostile rigidity" by traditionalists as well as "destructive good will" by progressives who wanted change at any cost.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; editing by Andrew Roche and David Clarke)

Catholic bishops reject landmark welcome to gays

In a setback for the Pope, prelates reject document with a water-downed position on ministering to homosexuals.
Deep divide

Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - The Islamic State group took heavy losses Sunday in the Syrian battleground of Kobane as Iraqi forces fought the jihadists buoyed by US backing for top government security appointments.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the appointment of defence and interior ministers after weeks of delay was a "very positive step forward" in the fightback against IS in Iraq, which Washington has made its priority.

American-led warplanes launched 11 air strikes near Kobane on Saturday and Sunday, US Central Command said, helping Kurdish fighters repulse a new IS attempt to cut their supply lines from Turkey.

Kobane's Kurdish defenders have been under IS assault for more than a month. They weathered fierce street fighting and at least two jihadist suicide bombings but the front line remained unchanged on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.

"(IS) brought in reinforcements... and attacked hard," Idris Nassen told AFP by telephone. "But thanks to air strikes and (the Kurdish fighters') response, they did not make any progress."

The IS fighters suffered heavy losses in Kobane, which has become a key prize as it is being fought under the gaze of the world media massed just across the border in Turkey.

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An image from a video posted on YouTube on October 19, 2014 by Aamaq News, allegedly shows IS milita …

From Saturday into Sunday morning, 31 jihadists died in the battle, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Coalition air strikes near Kobane hit 20 IS fighting positions, five IS vehicles and two IS-held buildings, said Central Command.

The Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said 15 jihadists were killed in the air strikes while 16 others died in ground clashes along with seven Kurdish fighters.

- Hospital counts IS bodies -

With the fighting raging, the corpses of at least 70 jihadists were brought over the past four days into an IS-controlled mortuary in the town of Tal Abyad further east, said the Observatory.

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Kurdish people watch the Syrian town of Kobane from the Turkish border village of Mursitpinar on Oct …

The US military has said it sees "encouraging" signs in the battle for Kobane, but has warned the town may still fall.

On Sunday the White House said President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and they pledged to "strengthen cooperation" against IS in Syria.

But US commanders say their top priority remains neighbouring Iraq, where IS swept through much of the Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad in June.

Grievances of the Sunni majority against the Shiite led-government were a major factor in the lightning advance, and Washington has been piling pressure on Baghdad to form an inclusive government to mount a fightback.

On Saturday, the remaining posts in a new government line-up were finally approved by parliament, including a Sunni as defence minister and a Shiite as interior minister.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi attends a UN Security Council summit meeting on foreign terrori …

"These were critical positions to be filled, in order to assist with the organising effort" against IS, Kerry said. "So we're very pleased."

- Iran-Iraq talks -

With Washington voicing approval, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's office announced he would visit Iran on Monday to discuss the fightback with Iraq's other key ally.

The US has kept Iran out of the coalition for fear of alienating Sunnis but acknowledges Tehran has an important role to play in the battle against IS.

Abadi's talks in Iran are part of his bid "to unite the efforts of the region and the world to help Iraq in its war against the terrorist group," his office said.

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A US Air Force B1-B bomber plane flies above the Syrian town of Kobane on October 18, 2014 as seen f …

Tehran is a key backer of Abadi's government in its efforts to hold back the advance of the Sunni extremist IS.

Kurdish officials say Iran has deployed troops on the Iraqi side of the border in the Khanaqin area northeast of Baghdad and played a role in Amerli, a Shiite Turkmen town where security forces and allied militiamen broke a months-long jihadist siege in August.

Evidence also indicates that Iran sent Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack jets to Iraq, though it is unclear who subsequently piloted the aircraft.

As well as Syria, the US-led coalition is carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq, including 10 on Saturday and Sunday. It has also deployed military advisers.

On Sunday a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding 30.

It came as Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in Baghdad that she had reached a deal to deploy about 200 special forces in Iraq to assist in the fight against the jihadists.

BY ARSHAD MOHAMMED AND TOM PERRY

WASHINGTON/BEIRUT Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:05am EDT

A general view of the Syrian town of Kobani is pictured from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc, October 19, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/KAI PFAFFENBACH

(Reuters) - The U.S. military said it had air-dropped arms to Syrian Kurds battling Islamic State near the Syrian town of Kobani, the first such delivery in more than a month of fighting and a move that could upset Turkey.

The U.S. Central Command said it had delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the Kurds who are trying to stave off an onslaught by Islamic State fighters who have overrun swathes of Syria and Iraq this year.

The main Syrian Kurdish group defending Kobani from the better armed Islamic State militants said on Monday the town had received "a large quantity" of ammunition and weapons.

Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, is besieged by Islamic State fighters to the east, west and south and bordered to the north by Turkey. The Turkish government has turned down Syrian Kurdish requests for it to open a land corridor so Kobani could be resupplied from other Kurdish areas of northern Syria.

Turkey views the Syrian Kurds with deep suspicion because of their ties to the PKK - a group that waged a decades-long militant campaign for Kurdish rights in Turkey.

The "resupply" of Kurdish fighters marks an escalation in the U.S. effort to help local forces beat back the radical Sunni militant group in Syria after years of trying to avoid getting dragged into the more than three-year Syrian civil war.

The United States began carrying out air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq in August and about a month later started bombing the militant group in neighboring Syria, in part to prevent it from enjoying safe haven on Syrian territory.

In a brief statement, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft "delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies that were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani," using an acronym to refer to Islamic State.

The Central Command said 135 U.S. air strikes near Kobani in recent days, combined with continued resistance against Islamic State on the ground, had slowed the group's advances into the town and killed hundreds of its fighters.

"However, the security situation in Kobani remains fragile as ISIL continues to threaten the city and Kurdish forces continue to resist," the statement said.

The Central Command mentioned no new air strikes around Kobani, whose strategic location has blocked the radical Sunni Muslim militants from consolidating their gains across northern Syria.

A spokesman for Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State militants in Kobani later confirmed on his Twitter feed that a "large quantity of ammunition and weapons" had reached the town.

U.S. officials, speaking in a conference call, described the weapons delivered as "small arms" but gave no details.

The United States gave Turkey advance notice of its plans to deliver arms to the Syrian Kurds, a group Turkey views with deep distrust because of its links to Turkish Kurds who have fought a an insurgency in which 40,000 people were killed.

"President Obama spoke to Erdogan yesterday and was able to notify him of our intent to do this and the importance that we put on it," one senior U.S. official told reporters.

"We understand the longstanding Turkish concern with the range of groups, including Kurdish groups, that they have been engaged in conflict with," he added. "However, our very strong belief is that both the United States and Turkey face a common enemy in ISIL and that we need to act on an urgent basis."

The Turkish presidency said Obama and Erdogan had discussed Syria, including measures that could be taken to stop Islamic State's advances, and Kobani.

In a statement published on Sunday, it also said Turkish assistance to over 1.5 million Syrians, including around 180,000 from Kobani, was noted in the conversation.

Obama and Erdogan agreed to continue working closely to strengthen the joint fight against Islamic State, it added.

Three C-130 transport aircraft dropped 27 bundles of weapons and medical supplies to the Syrian Kurds, said a second U.S. official, adding the planes left Syrian air space unharmed and that the majority of the bundles had reached their targets.

In comments published by Turkish media on Monday, Erdogan equated the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD, with the PKK.

"It is also a terrorist organization. It will be very wrong for America with whom we are allied and who we are together with in NATO to expect us to say 'yes' (to supporting the PYD) after openly announcing such support for a terrorist organization," Erdogan said.

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham, Warren Strobel and Tom Perry in Beirut and Seda Sezer in Turkey; Editing by Sophie Walker)

U.S. airdrops weapons, supplies to Kurdish forces

Military planes provide ammunition and medical aid to troops fighting the Islamic State in Syrian city of Kobani.
Certain to anger Turkey

NEW YORK (AP) — The quarantine against possible Ebola exposure ends this week for Dr. Nancy Snyderman, but the troubles clearly aren't over for NBC News' chief medical editor.

An admitted lapse in the quarantine, combined with a curiously imprecise explanation, unleashed a furious response. NBC must now decide whether Snyderman's credibility is too damaged for her to continue reporting on Ebola or other medical issues and, if so, for how long. The network would not comment.

Snyderman, a surgeon who spent 17 years as a medical correspondent for ABC News and has been at NBC since 2006, covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and worked briefly with Ashoka Mukpo, the cameraman who caught the virus and is now being treated in Nebraska. Upon returning to the United States, Snyderman and her crew voluntarily agreed to quarantine themselves for 21 days, the longest known incubation period for the disease. They have shown no symptoms.

Yet New Jersey health officials ruled that her quarantine should be mandatory after Snyderman and her crew were spotted getting takeout food from a New Jersey restaurant.

NBC won't give details about who actually went into the restaurant, or even how many of its employees are being quarantined. Snyderman issued a statement saying "members of our group" violated their pledge.

More than 1,100 people have subsequently written on Snyderman's Facebook page, many expressing anger. There were suggestions she should be fired or lose her medical license, and some viewers said they wouldn't trust her again. Snyderman's failure to be more specific about the lapse or take greater responsibility was another flashpoint.

Snyderman's "arrogance and dismissiveness" create a huge PR and credibility problem for NBC, said Kelly McBride, an expert on ethics for the journalism think tank the Poynter Institute.

"People are so freaked out about Ebola that the problem NBC has now is that whenever they put her on the air, some news consumers are going to see the woman who put others at risk, rather than the reporter and professional with great experience," McBride said.

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Christine Wade, a registered nurse at the University of Texas Medical Branch, greets Carnival Magic …

McBride suggested that Snyderman "lay low" or take a leave of absence. Certainly she should not report on Ebola anymore for the network, she said.

Susan Dentzer, a longtime health journalist and commentator for National Public Radio and the PBS "NewsHour," said people shouldn't forget that Snyderman put herself at risk to travel to Africa and cover the story. The public is reacting to a fear of Ebola instead of science, she said.

"She and her team clearly should have observed the terms of their quarantine, and she has said clearly that they made a mistake," Dentzer said. "But let's put it in a broader perspective."

Before Snyderman's trip for takeout, ABC News' medical expert arguably had bigger problems. ABC health editor Dr. Richard Besser was in Africa at the same time as Snyderman and did not quarantine himself upon his return. That led ABC News President James Goldston to send his staff a memo explaining that the network was following medical advice.

Still, Besser was disinvited to a speaking engagement at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, he wrote last week in the Washington Post. Some colleagues have avoided him.

"I've been surprised by how many colleagues have waved from across the room and quickly made an exit," Besser wrote. "Others won't enter my office."

NBC could face a competitive disadvantage if Snyderman is taken off medical stories. Robert Bazell, the network's longtime health and science correspondent, left last year to teach at Yale.

An important first step for Snyderman will be to explain to viewers exactly what happened, perhaps on a venue like the "Today" show, said Bill Wheatley, a longtime NBC executive who now teaches journalism at Columbia University.

"If she and the network are more forthcoming about the whole matter, I believe that her credibility can be preserved," Wheatley said.

___

Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder.

Related Video

GAMMARTH, Tunisia (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization says the agency will be upfront about its handling of the Ebola outbreak, following an internal report that details failures in containing the virus.

In the draft document obtained by the Associated Press, the WHO says "nearly everyone" involved in the Ebola response failed to notice factors that turned the outbreak into the biggest on record. It blames incompetent staff, bureaucracy and a lack of reliable information.

WHO Director Margaret Chan said Monday that the report was a "work in progress." Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Tunisia, she said "I have promised WHO will be fully transparent and accountable."

Nearly half of the more than 9,000 people who have contracted Ebola in West Africa this year have died.

Worth Health Organization examines Ebola errors

Director Margaret Chan promises transparency and accountability in a report on the outbreak.
Issues with staff, bureaucracy