Melania Trump accused of plagiarism, Isis claims German train attack and the secret to longevity

Sign up to receive FirstFT by email here

The Republican convention got off to a rocky start in Cleveland on Monday night. The GOP’s hopes of highlighting the “personal side” of Donald Trump were all but forgotten after it emerged that parts of his wife’s keynote speech were plagiarised from an address by Michelle Obama. Melania Trump used key phrases — including “you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say” — that were used by the first lady at the Democratic convention in 2008.

Ahead of the speech, Paul Manafort, Mr Trump’s campaign manager, said in an interview with the FT that Trump family members would provide a more complete picture of the Republican candidate than has been painted by his rallies over the past year.

Away from the controversy, a series of fiery performances by other speakers set the tone for a nationalist campaign message. The convention has already put Wall Street banks on edge by embracing a populist proposal to break up big institutions. Keep track of the 2016 race with our daily US politics newsletter. Sign up here. (FT, Guardian)

In the news

German train attack An Afghan teen implicated in the attack on a train in Germany was a member of Isis, the group says. Four people were seriously injured by the 17-year-old before he was shot dead by police. (Washington Post)

Turkey warning US and European leaders warned Turkey’s president to use restraint in his increasingly wide-reaching crackdown against plotters of Friday's coup amid widespread alarm at the speed of arrests of senior military and members of the judiciary. Here’s a look at how Turkey almost slipped from Mr Erdogan’s grasp. (FT)

Russian doping President Vladimir Putin accused the World Anti-Doping Agency of politicising sport when its report alleged that Moscow ran a covert doping programme for its elite athletes. He rejected the allegations. (NYT)

Boris Johnson: diplomat The newly minted foreign secretary made his debut in Brussels amid low expectations in the EU capital. Read our new daily Brexit Briefing, or forward to other FT subscribers who can sign up to receive it daily by email here.

McDonald's seen unloading China, Hong Kong stores The restaurant group is said to be weighing the sale of outlets in Hong Kong and mainland China in an effort to weather an earnings slump, fierce competition and the lingering effects of a food safety scandal. (NAR)

It’s a big day for

Goldman Sachs The Wall Street bank reports earnings as lenders deal with the impact of rock-bottom rates (and little sign of a rise on the horizon), the day after rival Bank of America set a new target to cut billions of dollars in costs. (FT)

The Olympics The executive board of the International Olympic Committee could issue “provisional measures and sanctions” on Russia amid claims of a systematic doping cover-up. The World Anti-Doping Agency has called for all Russian athletes to be banned from the games in Rio de Janeiro. (BBC, FT)

Brexit The High Court in London will hear details of the first legal challenge to the process triggering Britain’s exit from the EU. (FT)

Keep up with the important business, economic and political stories in the coming days with the FT’s week ahead.

Food for thought

Sardinian longevity In the quest to find the secret to a longer life, a British biotech group has bought the genetic data of almost 13,000 residents from a Sardinian province where an unusually large number of people live past their 100th birthday. Roughly one in every 2,000 people in Ogliastra live to celebrate their 100th birthday, about five times the rate in most developed countries, and second only to the Japanese island of Okinawa. (FT)

Don’t buy land Property in the US has traditionally been a safe place to invest but over the long run it isn’t such a good bet. Over the past century, the real value of US farmland has grown only 1.1 per cent each year. House prices have increased only 0.6 per cent over the same period. (NYT)

Asset managers in crisis Asset management remains an uncommonly profitable business, with operating margins of 37 per cent in 2015 and profits that topped $100bn globally. But growth appears to have stalled. A majority fail to beat the index over any significant period, and most of those that do ultimately find their outperformance to be fleeting. New competitors are claiming any insight they actually possess can be replicated by a computer. (FT)

Trump’s ghostwriter tells all “The Art of the Deal” made the US see Trump as a charmer with an unfailing knack for business. Tony Schwartz helped create that myth — and regrets it. (The New Yorker)

Minority report Richard Berk trains computers to find future criminals, using algorithms to predict whether someone will commit a crime. He says it will take the bias out of criminal justice — but could it make things worse? (Bloomberg)

Video of the day

Brazil in three numbers The FT’s Brazil bureau chief Joe Leahy picks his three to describe the world's agricultural giant. (FT)