Brexit Gets a New Date. And It's Spooky.

European Union leaders on Thursday offered Britain an extension to Brexit that would allow the country to delay its EU departure date until Halloween. Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours before agreeing after midnight to postpone Brexit until Oct. 31, two officials said. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations. European Council President Donald Tusk confirmed in a tweet that an extension had been agreed to, and the Guardian is confirming the October 31 date. Tusk was meeting May, who had sought a delay only until June 30, to see if she would agree to the offer.

Just two days before Britain was due to leave the EU, its leaders spent a long dinner meeting wrangling over whether to save Britain from a precipitous and potentially calamitous Brexit, or to give the foot-dragging departing nation a shove over the edge. May pleaded with them at an emergency summit to delay Britain's exit, due on Friday, for a couple more months while the UK sorts out the mess that Brexit has become. Some were sympathetic, but French President Emmanuel Macron struck a warning note. "Nothing is decided," Macron said as he arrived at the summit, insisting on "clarity" from May about what Britain wants. "What's indispensable is that nothing should compromise the European project in the months to come," he said.

(More Brexit stories.)