UN court orders Azerbaijan, Armenia not to aggravate dispute

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the United Nations’ top court have ordered Azerbaijan to protect all the prisoners it captured during the country’s war last year with neighboring Armenia and to prevent incitement of racial hatred against Armenians. The orders came at an early stage of a pair of cases Armenia and Azerbaijan filed at the International Court of Justice that are linked to last year’s war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The court also ordered both sides to refrain from any actions that could exacerbate the dispute. Judges planned to rule later Tuesday on Azerbaijan’s request for the court to order Armenia to halt the laying of landmines and to provide minefield maps to assist clearance efforts.