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Real Madrid will step up their pursuit of Tottenham's Harry Kane after Karim Benzema's exit was confirmed.

Pro-democracy activists have been detained in a crackdown on marking the 1989 massacre in Beijing.

Real Madrid are looking at a move for Harry Kane this summer, with Carlo Ancelotti and the club's football hierarchy having discussed the English striker as one of the few players who does not represent a downgrade on Karim Benzema. The club announced the departure of the French striker on Sunday morning, with Saudi Arabia his expected destination, but the lateness of his actual decision has caused a shift in their transfer plans for this summer. Madrid plan to sign Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund for £130m, but were hoping to keep Benzema for one year before going big on either Erling Haaland or – much more likely – Kylian Mbappe. They are now insistent on a striker for this window, and have had several discussions over the last few days as Benzema's decision became clear. They do have money for a first lavish summer since 2019, having had very little net spend in the time since, and their financial isssues to be eased. Madrid have Benzema, Eden Hazard and Paris Saint Germain-bound Marco Asensio off the wage bill, with the expensive Bernabeu redevelopment also close to completion. That leaves a potential budget of over £200m, although it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to convince Tottenham Hotspur to sell or the player to join. While The Independent has been told that it has been made known to Madrid what wages Kane would want, there is still the belief that he wants to stay in England in order to break the Premier League goalscoring record. Spurs' position is weakened by the fact the 29-year-old now only has a year left on his contract but that has not changed Daniel Levy's hardline stance. The Spurs chairman absolutely will not countenance the sale of Kane to another Premier League club, and his preference is still to keep him for next season in the hope that a deal can still be agreed. Much will depend on the manager. At the same time, a sale to Madrid would at least represent a more palatable option. The Bernabeu hierarchy are hoping to play on this, even though they are acutely aware of how difficult it will be to negotiate with Levy. It is still expected the Spurs chairman would want as much as £200m, which would almost certainly exceed Madrid's budget. The club's policy is no longer to go after players above 29 due to a shift in order to compete with state-owned clubs but this is seen as an exceptional situation, due to the profile of forward required. It is also hoped it may not impinge on any new pursuit of Mbappe, as they hope to bring him in on a free and Kane could play with both the French striker and Vinicius Jr. Read More Karim Benzema confirms Real Madrid departure as he eyes big-money move Harry Kane sends message to Mauricio Pochettino after former boss joins Chelsea Premier League transfers: Mount and Kane linked with moves this summer

Hello from London. Here’s what we’re looking at heading into the new week. The big vote: The Confederation

Xavi has ruled out selling a Barcelona star who has been targeted by Arsenal.

A highly anticipated defense forum in Singapore kicked off with a friendly handshake between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin

A few sentences in a note from an obscure United Nations group has ignited a firestorm in the

Manchester City were greeted by singer Elton John as they touched down at Manchester Airport on their return from winning the FA Cup at Wembley. The club posted videos of the squad posing for pictures with the 76-year-old on the tarmac as they disembarked from their plane late on Saturday. Pep Guardiola said in advance of the final, which City won 2-1 against Manchester United to secure the second leg of a possible treble, that he had attended John’s concert in the city last week as he sought to take his mind off a defining period in the club’s history. The club’s Twitter feed headed one of the videos “you can tell everybody we have won the FA Cup”, a reference to a line from the 1971 hit Your Song. City were victorious at Wembley thanks to a goal in either half from Ilkay Gundogan – his first the fastest in FA Cup final history – as they added the trophy to the Premier League title they won in May. They face Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul on Saturday seeking to become only the second English club after Manchester United to have won all three major trophies in a single season. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

A woman has shared her wedding horror story and revealed that her brother insisted on dressing up in a ‘disrespectful’ pirate costume. Posting on the popular “Am I the A**hole?” Reddit thread, the woman didn’t know how to react after being told her sibling was attending her big day dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. The bride wrote: “My brothers wife called me up to tell me they were getting me personalized M&M’s as a wedding present (cool!), oh and, BTW, ‘Since you’re having a yacht wedding, Greg will be wearing a pirate costume.’ I said ‘Please no.’ “But he showed up in a pirate costume exactly like the Johnny Depp pirates of the Caribbean one anyway. Complete with fake dreadlocks.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The woman went on to write: “If he had done this to any of my older sisters on their weddings, they would have cried and freaked out. Or if I had embarrassed him on his wedding he would have flipped out. But I’m seen as the ‘wacky artistic little sister’ that everyone can do whatever to. And he’s so ‘sensitive’ that everyone in my family indulges him and never calls him out.” She went on to say: “Then I got to look like a bridezilla in front of my other guests for being very visibly not thrilled after he interrupted my first dance with my new husband to twirl me around the dance floor against my will while he swung a sword around. One of my new relatives acted like I was being uptight, told me she found the pirate costume funny. I didn’t bother to explain to her ‘Yeah well it’s not your big expensive event with your family being disrespectful as usual.’” The post continued: “I am worried that I am too sensitive and uptight when it comes to my family and the way I sometimes feel disrespected by them. I wish I could lighten up.” She added: “TLDR: I’m the youngest in a big family where they’ve always expected me to be ok with all of my stuff being treated as a joke, whereas their stuff is sacred. And my brother wore a pirate costume to my yacht wedding after I begged for that not to happen. I’m worried that I’m too sensitive to my family dynamics and might be super uptight about how my family dressed and behaved at my wedding, and felt insulted by my bothers costume.” Safe to say, the internet was appalled by the post. The comments section was full of people showing support for the bride, and criticising the selfish acts of the brother. One wrote: “You should have left him stranded on an empty island.” Another added: “I would be so hurt if a close member of my family though so little of me as to do this. I’m so upset that nobody pushed him into the sea.” A user commented: “He made you and your SO day about himself. He's an ahole.” “Your wedding, your rules. He is a huge AH. I would banish him from any future event. A wedding is a big thing and he has no right to ignore your request,” one more said. Another added: “Your brother has main character syndrome. I would feel completely disappointed and hurt. I think you really need to lay down the law this time with this family dynamic or not respecting your events. Say what you need to say to him and then don’t contact him for a while.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Fran Garcia explains what Real Madrid can expect from him as he nears a summer transfer.

Two down, one to go. Perhaps it is a sign of the FA Cup’s diminishing status that it seems the least of the trio, perhaps a sign of its historic importance that Pep Guardiola sounded genuinely delighted to win it. “The emotions are so, so special,” he said. For the record, and it can be obscured by much else on a sizeable CV, he is now the only manager to win each of the main English, Spanish and German knockout competitions two times. There was a time when it represented arguably the biggest prize in the domestic game, another when the double was the ultimate achievement. Only four clubs did it in 97 years. In the last 38, nine have: over three decades, more than a quarter of champions have also ended the season with the FA Cup. It is a sign of how a concentration of resources at the top have altered the footballing landscape. Manchester City are an extreme case, even if the man who proved their Wembley match-winner, Ilkay Gundogan, was a £16m bargain. But if the 2023 FA Cup will have a greater significance than most, it is probably for two reasons. This was, in more than 150 years, the first final to double up as a Manchester derby. It may not be the last if City maintain their dominance and Erik ten Hag’s revival of Manchester United proves more than a fleeting affair. Both of these neighbours had arguably underachieved in the competition in the previous decade, even though each had won it once; they had claimed eight League Cups between them in the same time. And there is the importance of the FA Cup as part of a package, as one-third of a potential treble. If City’s legacy and reputation rests in part in the hands of the lawyers, given the 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial regulations, on the field, it depends on the continent. “We have to win the Champions League to be recognised how the team deserves to be,” said Guardiola. The idea is nothing new: the different element is that he has started to admit it as the prospect has grown likelier. Many a City fan would rather win the Premier League than the Champions League but it always felt disingenuous when Guardiola used to argue he would, too. “You have to put the pressure on yourself to be recognised as something good, so you have to win in Europe,” he has now admitted. Europe seems the final frontier for this most European of sides. The most seismic FA Cup – on its own, anyway – in City’s history may forever remain the 2011 tournament that Yaya Toure decided in their favour; it opened the floodgates. Then, there was a novelty value. Now, the distinctions can feel statistical: Gundogan scored the quickest goal in FA Cup final history after a mere 13 seconds. It took a contentious penalty to stop them becoming the first team since 1903 to win the competition without conceding. Their eventual goal difference was 19-1. Riyad Mahrez had delivered the first semi-final hat-trick since Alex Dawson’s in 1958. The fact the Algerian’s treble came against Sheffield United was both indicative and deceptive. “Many times we arrive in the semi-finals,” said Guardiola; they can be their undoing, the proximity of Champions League knockout ties tending to stop them flourishing on all fronts. Yet City finish this season’s competition having knocked out the teams who came second and third in the Premier League and, including Chelsea, three of the supposedly big six. They have beaten five of next season’s top flight even if two of them, Burnley and Sheffield United, had a rather greater focus on promotion. There are signs of how the FA Cup is secured this season. Erling Haaland has scored 52 goals this term but has only found the net in one FA Cup match, even if it did bring him a hat-trick against Burnley. Neither Mahrez, their top scorer in this season’s competition, nor Julian Alvarez, who was tied for second, actually took part in the final. Phil Foden, another of those to get three goals, was limited to a cameo. City’s squad is not as large as is often imagined but they have quality in such depth that their first 18 or so players are outstanding; United could reflect that theirs are perhaps not when they brought Wout Weghorst off the bench. The man who played most minutes in City’s FA Cup campaign was, indirectly, the instigator of that record-breaking goal, Stefan Ortega, whose punt forward led to Gundogan’s wondrous strike. In his own way, the second-choice goalkeeper is a reason for glory, and not merely with his collection of clean sheets. Guardiola’s willingness to pick his reserve goalkeeper has cost him in previous seasons, with Zack Steffen culpable in successive semi-final defeats. Ortega has proved an upgrade, just as City showed defensive resolve when United threatened an equaliser. But it will be Ederson who faces Internazionale, charged with completing the treble, to get the prize City want more than the FA Cup and the recognition that has eluded them Read More Man City’s FA Cup victory provides no clues on how to stop them Ilkay Gundogan, Man City’s master of timing, sets up chance for perfect goodbye Pep Guardiola urges Man City to cement greatness by winning Champions League Elton John joins Manchester City’s FA Cup celebrations Man City vs Man Utd player ratings as Ilkay Gundogan wins FA Cup final Man City’s FA Cup victory provides no clues on how to stop them

Karim Benzema will leave Real Madrid this summer when his contract expires.