In brief: ‘Mecca’ disco changing its name

MURCIA, Spain – A Spanish discotheque called Mecca that has angered Muslims will change its name, a Muslim representative said Thursday in the southern city of Murcia.

The discotheque in Aguilas near Murcia will also modify controversial features of its architecture, said Mohammed Reda el-Qady, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Murcia.

Features that were deemed offensive by Muslims included a minaret-like tower, a blue dome with a half-moon on top which made the building look like a mosque, and verses of the Quran inside.

MANILA, Philippines – A Philippine lawmaker says a woman who acknowledged leaving a newborn baby in an airplane trash can says she was raped by her employer in the Middle East, where she worked as a maid.

Rep. Lani Mercado told the Associated Press on Thursday that the woman said she became pregnant and was ordered to return home from Qatar by her employer’s wife.

Mercado said the woman told her she gave birth on the plane and decided to abandon the child because she feared what her Philippine family would say.

The baby was found by a security guard at Manila’s airport last Sunday in a trash bag unloaded from a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain.

Japanese premier remaking Cabinet

TOKYO – Prime Minister Naoto Kan planned to name a new foreign minister in his Cabinet reshuffle today as he sought to put a new stamp on the administration and party leadership after surviving a challenge earlier this week.

Seiji Maehara, a security expert who had been transport minister, was likely to replace Katsuya Okada as foreign minister. At Kan’s request, Okada has accepted the No. 2 post in the ruling Democratic Party.

Kan’s Cabinet resigned en masse this morning to make way for the new lineup, to be announced this afternoon.