Nkoreans return to liaison office without explanation

North Korean officials returned to work at a joint inter-korean liaison office Monday, just three days after North Korea pulled its staff members from the office it has operated with South Korea since September.

North Korea abruptly withdrew workers from the liaison office, located in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, on Friday, raising fears that its was hardening its position toward the South.

But several North Korean officials showed up in the office Monday, telling their South Korean counterparts that they had returned to work “as usual,” the South’s Ministry of National Unification said. The North Koreans returned to the office two days after Trump tweeted that he had ordered his government to withdraw “additional largescale sanctions” against the North, although it was not clear whether the two moves were connected.

The North Koreans did not explain why they withdrew from the office Friday.

a measure of control over the stalled Brexit process from Prime Minister Theresa May’s foundering government Monday, setting up a series of votes that could dramatically alter the course of the U.K.’S departure from the European Union.

The move came after May conceded that Parliament would defeat her twicerejected divorce deal with the EU again if she put it to a third vote.

With Brexit delayed and the new departure date up in the air, the House of Commons voted to give itself temporary control of the parliamentary timetable starting on Wednesday so lawmakers can vote on alternatives to May’s withdrawal deal. The government usually controls the scheduling of votes in Parliament.

Possible options include a “soft Brexit” that maintains close economic ties with the EU and scrapping Britain’s departure altogether.