Deutsche Bank shares hit new low, the return of Mao and why we all want hygge

Test your knowledge with our week in news quiz

Shares in Deutsche Bank hit a new low on Friday, setting up a potential showdown with German authorities over the future of the country’s largest lender.

The fall came after news that hedge funds have started to pull some of their business from the bank. John Cryan, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive, hit out at what he said were “forces in the market” seeking to undermine the bank.

Deutsche Bank has become the focus of growing anxiety about the health of Europe’s banking system after the US Department of Justice told the bank it was seeking $14bn for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.

The woes of German banks were further underlined yesterday as Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest lender, unveiled plans to cut 9,600 jobs and scrap its dividend “for the time being” to boost its flagging profitability. (FT)

In the news

Russia rejects US pleas on Aleppo bombing A Kremlin spokesman said the Russian air force would continue to support the Syrian armed forces in their bombardment of rebel-held Aleppo, which Moscow says is a “struggle with terrorists”. The rhetoric is a sign of the rising tension between Moscow and Washington over the Syrian conflict. There are unconfirmed reports that Washington is considering the use of force against the Assad regime if the attack is not stopped. (BBC, FT, Times)

Philippine president cites Hitler Controversial Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has cited Hitler, saying he would like to kill millions of his country’s drug addicts in the same way that the German fuhrer massacred millions of Jews in world war two. (NYT)

Camorra Van Gogh stash Two Van Gogh paintings stolen in Amsterdam more than a decade ago have turned up in the house of a drug trafficker based near Naples. Italian police say they found the artworks after a sting operation targeting the city’s Camorra crime syndicate. (Guardian)

Gulf 9/11 blowback Bankers in the Gulf warn that new US legislation allowing the families of the 9/11 attack victims to sue Saudi Arabia risk triggering the sale of billions of dollars in assets and could deter investment in the US. (FT)

South Korea’s Black Friday For the second year running, the South Korean government has launched an autumn retail discount campaign to boost the country’s sagging personal consumption. (NAR)

It’s a big day for

Europe’s space programme The European Space Agency’s Rosetta space probe will end its mission by landing on a comet. (Guardian)

HMRC The details of hundreds of thousands of offshore accounts will be handed to HM Revenue & Customs as part of a transparency drive sweeping through centres such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Cayman Islands. (FT)

Food for thought

The return of Mao The Chinese dictator is enjoying a surge of popularity amid an age of growing inequality. But the rise of a neo-Maoist movement threatens the stability of the country’s political system, writes the FT’s Jamil Anderlini. (FT)

Why we all want Hygge Translating the Danish word is as tricky as pronouncing it — but it has been described as “cosiness of the soul” and “cocoa by candlelight”. It is the latest Danish export that foreigners want to own. (Economist)

How Goldman Sachs lost $1.2bn of Libya’s money When Wall Street’s most aggressive bank took on the world’s most incendiary client, someone was going to make a killing. The tale is now being retold in a London courtroom. (Bloomberg)

Donald Trump: excuses, excuses If the US presidential debate this week left you feeling aghast, here is some therapy courtesy of the FT’s Robert Shrimsley. “Once again, Mr Trump is tearing up the playbook. In Trumpian politics you never lose, you was only robbed.” (FT)

Keep track of the 2016 race with our daily US politics newsletter. Sign up here.

How to email The norms and culture around writing emails are long overdue a change. And brevity needs to be at the heart of such changes, writes James Hamblin. Drop the undue formalities. Check only a few times a day — and when you do, “plough through that inbox”. (The Atlantic)

Video of the day

How hard conversations help women The FT’s business editor Sarah Gordon speaks to Nicola Mendelsohn, vice-president for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Facebook, about changing bias in the workplace and how hard conversations can help women to succeed.