WORLD BRIEFS

GEORGIA: Prison abuse sparks protest

Street protests against the brutal abuse of prisoners escalated Thursday in the capital, Tbilisi, fueling anger against the Western-allied government and possibly boosting support for the opposition before a tight parliamentary election. President Mikhail Saakashvili has sought to defuse the tensions, removing cabinet ministers most blamed and reshuffling prison personnel. After videos of guards beating inmates with truncheons and brooms were broadcast, thousands rallied outside the Interior Ministry and the Tbilisi prison. They marched to the presidential palace to demand the ouster of the interior minister, Bachana Akhalaya, who resigned Thursday.

PHILIPPINES: Relics of a medieval village

Archaeologists have found remnants of what they believe is a 1,000-year-old village on a jungle-covered mountaintop with limestone coffins of a type never before found in the Philippines. National Museum official Eusebio Dizon said Thursday the village on Mount Kamhantik, near Mulanay town in Quezon province, could be 1,000 years old, based on U.S. carbon dating tests done on a human tooth found in one of 15 limestone graves dug out since last year. The rectangular tombs, carved into limestone outcrops in the forest ground, are the first indication that Filipinos at that time practiced a more advanced burial ritual than previously, using metal tools to carve the coffins.

ISRAEL: Thousands in war exercise

The Israeli military conducted its largest snap drill in years as tensions with Iran over its nuclear program rise and civil war rages in Syria. Military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz ordered the exercise to test the competence and preparedness of several units in the armed forces, a military statement said. Tens of thousands of soldiers were mobilized, making the drill unique because of the numbers involved, several officials said. Troops were dispatched by air from the central part of the country to the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights. The drill ended with a live fire exercise in the Golan.