Theresa May officially wants to put the breaks on Brexit.

The U.K. prime minister's plans for Britain's exit from the EU have continued to falter, prompting votes that question confidence in her leadership and even calls for her to resign. And in a sure sign that May still hasn't figured things out, she asked European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday for a three-month extension on Britain's stay in the EU.

May is set to meet with EU leaders on Thursday and, with a previously set Brexit deadline of March 29 less than two weeks away, is expected to ask for an extension, Politico reports. May told MPs Tuesday that she wouldn't delay Brexit any further than her June 30 request, per BBC. Still, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker responded by "formally warn[ing] May that if an extension is granted beyond May 23's European Parliament elections, there would be "institutional difficulties and legal uncertainty," CNN notes.

Britain voted to leave the EU more than two years ago, but has struggled to come up with a deal that would preserve trade relations with the bloc. Parliament has continually shot down May's proposed deals to exit, but also ruled out a no-deal Brexit with a non-binding vote last week. Kathryn Krawczyk

Tensions between the United States and China continue to run high, and they likely won't simmer when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with survivors of the Tiananmen Square massacre Tuesday afternoon.

In 1989, student-led demonstrations aiming for democratic reforms in China were held in Beijing before the government forcibly suppressed the movement. Pompeo extending a hand to the surviving participants certainly seems like a shot at the Chinese Communist Party, especially as it cracks down on a contemporary pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Earlier Tuesday, Pompeo blasted pro-Beijing authorities in Hong Kong for denying permission to hold a vigil in remembrance of the massacre for the first time in 30 years.

But some critics of the Trump administration think the secretary's gesture is hypocritical, since just a day earlier federal police used tear gas and flash grenades to disperse a peaceful protest against police brutality at Lafayette Square across from the White House so President Trump could pose for a photo-op in front of the historic St. John's Church, and police have clashed violently with demonstrators across the country over the last several days. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump has issued a very contradictory assessment of how protests in Washington, D.C., went down Monday night.

Protests against police brutality continued peacefully on Monday until the evening, when law enforcement began clearing the streets outside the White House so Trump could walk to St. John's Church across the street for a photo. Law enforcement fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, creating a surreal side-by-side as Trump spoke in the Rose Garden, but the president still maintained that there were "no problems in D.C. last night."

Trump's evaluation of Monday night's protest came in a Tuesday morning tweet, though he immediately reversed that "no problems" sentiment by bluntly stating there were "many arrests" in D.C. due to "overwhelming force" and "domination." Trump then thanked himself for what happened.

After a week of protests, Trump declared Monday evening that he was Americans' "president of law and order" and announced he would "deploy the United States military" to end violent protests in any city. Trump also announced he was "dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers" to halt protests in D.C. Kathryn Krawczyk

A group of civil rights leaders say they're "disappointed" and "stunned" following a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about his recent decisions on posts by President Trump.

Zuckerberg hosted a call with civil rights leaders on Monday as the company faces growing controversy and an employee walkout over its a hands-off approach to Trump's posts, including one in which he wrote "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" in reference to the Minneapolis protests over George Floyd's death. Facebook also didn't touch a post by Trump about mail-in voting that Twitter fact-checked.

After the meeting, leaders from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Color of Change released a statement blasting Zuckerberg, per Axios, saying they're "disappointed and stunned by Mark's incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up."

The civil rights leaders go on to say Zuckerberg "did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump's call for violence against protesters," adding his inaction on Trump's posts sets a "very dangerous precedent."

Color of Change President Rashad Robinson also spoke in an interview with Bloomberg News about the meeting, saying that "I spent a lot of time, and my colleagues spent a lot of time, explaining to him why these things are a problem, and I think he just very much lacks the ability to understand it."

Amid the controversy, Zuckerberg this week said he would donate $10 million to groups fighting for racial justice. But Robinson told Bloomberg, "saying Black Lives Matter, saying I'm going to give money, but having your policies actually hurt black people, people will know the difference." Brendan Morrow

People in China, where reporting on even small anti-government protests is censored, are getting full coverage of U.S. protesters and journalists being beaten and gassed by U.S. police, blinded by rubber bullets, and arrested in what looks like war zones. "Freedom is dead" in the U.S., Chinese wrote on social media, BBC News reports. "The U.S. police has lost all humanity." European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said "like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd," adding that Europeans "support the right to peaceful protest" and "call for a de-escalation of tensions."

Australians, meanwhile, watched a widely broadcast clip of 7NEWS reporter Amelia Brace and cameraman Tim Myers being clubbed, punched in the face, and battered by federal police clearing Lafayette Square of protesters so President Trump could walk to a church and hold up a Bible for the cameras. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne expressed "strong concerns" about the assault on the Australian journalists.

"We have asked the Australian embassy in Washington, D.C., to investigate this incident," Payne said Tuesday. "I want to get further advice on how we would go about registering Australia's strong concerns with the responsible local authorities in Washington," suggesting a formal complaint will follow. U.S. Ambassador Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. tweeted in response: "We take mistreatment of journalists seriously, as do all who take democracy seriously." Peter Weber

President Trump's brief excursion to St. John's Episcopal Church for a photo op with a Bible on Monday evening was apparently a big hit inside the West Wing — the official White House Twitter feed features a campaign-like music video of the amble. After Trump's aides "spent much of Monday expressing outrage" over limited arson at the historic church, The New York Times reports, "Hope Hicks, a presidential adviser, eventually hatched a plan with others at the White House to have the president walk over to the building."

Trump was anxious to leave the White House, reportedly irked by coverage of him being whisked to a secure bunker. "A number of people reached out directly to the president or his top aides to tell them, with great urgency, that he needed to be seen," Axios reports. "They saw signs on Twitter that the conservative base was turning against him."

Hicks was part of the entourage that crossed Lafayette Square with Trump after federal police used tear gas and flash grenades to clear the public park of protesters. Attorney General William Barr, Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper also accompanied Trump so he could hold a Bible in front of the church.

A senior White House official told Axios "I've never been more ashamed" than after watching the tear-gassing of protesters to pave Trump's path, adding: "I'm really honestly disgusted. I'm sick to my stomach. And they're all celebrating it. They're very very proud of themselves."

Bishop Mariann Budde, the top Episcopal official in Washington, was disappointed, too. One of the visiting priests at St. John's was tear-gassed in the square, she said, and neither the Bible nor the church should be used as a political prop. "The Bible is not an American document," Budde told the Times. "It's not an expression of our country. It's an expression of the human struggle to serve and love and know God." Peter Weber

Jimmy Fallon has apologized on The Tonight Show in an emotional segment after coming under fire for wearing blackface in an old Saturday Night Live sketch.

A clip resurfaced last week of Fallon wearing blackface while playing Chris Rock on SNL in 2000, leading Fallon to apologize on Twitter for his "terrible decision." In his first episode of The Tonight Show since then, and in light of the ongoing protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, Fallon spoke further about the controversy.

"I was horrified," Fallon said. "Not of the fact that people were trying to cancel me, or cancel the show, which is scary enough. But the thing that haunted me the most was, how do I say I love this person? I respect this guy more than I respect most humans. I am not a racist. I don't feel this way."

Fallon went on to say that he was advised not to address the controversy at all but decided that "I can't not say I'm horrified, and I'm sorry, and I'm embarrassed," concluding that "the silence is the biggest crime that white guys like me and the rest of us are doing."

In this "different" sort of edition of the show, Fallon then spoke with NAACP President Derrick Johnson about the "mistakes I made in the past" and asked how he "can do better," with Johnson praising Fallon's "powerful" apology and telling him that everyone is flawed. Fallon also interviewed CNN's Don Lemon, who similarly praised Fallon for his "honest" and "brave" opening monologue.

"That's exactly what we all need to do is examine ourselves," Lemon said. Brendan Morrow