WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Trudeau resigns, weather warnings, and the Dutch families confronting their Nazi past

 
today's international story

Trudeau to resign as Canada's prime minister

What happened
Justin Trudeau said yesterday that he would step down in the coming months after nearly a decade as prime minister of Canada.

Who said what
"It's time for a reset," Trudeau told reporters outside his residence in Ottawa, the nation's capital. The PM vowed that he would stay on in his post and as Liberal Party leader until his replacement had been chosen through a nationwide party election.

With an approval rating of just 30% and facing a mounting crisis in the wake of the resignation of deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau "has gone from the darling of the global liberal pack to a political pariah", said The Independent.

Trudeau, 53, "is the latest leader in the West to be swept aside by a mood of anti-incumbency", said The New York Times. His resignation "throws open the doors to a fierce political battle to be the country’s next leader", said The Guardian. Polls suggest the Liberals will be easily defeated by the opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October "regardless of who the leader is".

What next?
Trudeau is "the latest casualty of the pronounced shift to the right taking place in many Western democracies", said The Daily Telegraph. If, as expected, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party, becomes the country's next leader, it could "help to ease any forthcoming tensions that might arise between Canada and the Trump White House".

 
 
today's weather story

Emergency services rescue scores of people from floods

What happened
A major incident has been declared and hundreds of flood warnings and alerts are in place across the country due to widespread flooding, with dozens of people having been rescued by emergency services.

Who said what
Yesterday evening the Environment Agency had one severe flood warning (where there is potential danger to life), 186 flood warnings (meaning flooding is anticipated) and 302 flood alerts (meaning flooding is possible) active across England. Most of the worst flooding "is expected to hit the Midlands and north of England", said The Independent.

Flooding across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland saw emergency crews rescue people from stranded cars and evacuate residents from their homes. According to the fire service, 59 members of the public have been rescued so far.

What next?
Alongside the flood warnings, yellow warnings for snow and ice came into force across large parts of the UK yesterday afternoon and will remain in place today. The Met Office advised people to be "prepared" for snow.

 
 
Today's consumer story

Companies will hike prices to offset higher costs, taxes

What happened
More than half of companies are planning to raise prices over the next three months as they face pressure from rising costs and taxes, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

A survey of nearly 5,000 firms found that confidence had fallen to its lowest level for two years. Two-thirds of companies said they were worried about taxes following the Budget, which included a rise in national insurance contributions paid by firms from April.

Who said what
Shevaun Haviland, the BCC's director general, told the BBC that in the face of rising costs there were "only so many things" businesses could do.

What next?
Official data shows that the economy flatlined between July and September last year, and contracted during October. But a KPMG report has forecast that the economy will grow by 1.7% this year, compared with just 0.8% last year.

 
 

It's not all bad

Israel and Hamas are reportedly nearing a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, as talks mediated by Qatar continue. Hamas has provided a list of 34 Israeli hostages who could be freed in a first-phase prisoner exchange, although their condition remains uncertain. The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday that negotiations with Hamas "are approaching a crossroads, and the Israeli delegation is optimistic that a deal can be finalised within the next few days".

 
 
under the radar

Dutch families have to confront Nazi past

A massive trove of historic Second World War documents has been unveiled, and it strikes at the heart of a generational issue in the Netherlands. On 2 January the Dutch Central Archives of the Special Jurisdiction was publicly opened under the country's national archive rules. It contains information about 425,000 Dutch people who were accused of collaborating with the Nazis.

This particular archive has been available to researchers for the past 70 years, but it marks the first time that members of the public can view the contents. Some descendants of those accused of Nazi collaboration say they are wary of what this public access might mean.

The 32 million documents include information on Dutch people who were both tried as Nazi collaborators and those who were only suspected of being such. This is what largely separates the Dutch archives from similar databases in other European countries. Once the files are digitised online, people will be "able to type in the name of a victim and discover who was accused of betraying them", Tom de Smet, director of the Dutch National Archives, told The New York Times. 

It is "a bit uncomfortable", Connie, whose family is in the archive, told The Guardian. She does not "know what could come out of it eventually, if people Google our surname". But others believe that publicising the archives will help the Netherlands heal from its connection with the Holocaust. The country is "only now coming to terms with" its role in the genocide, said The Guardian.

 
 
on this day

7 January 1979

Vietnamese troops seized control of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, overthrowing dictator Pol Pot and his brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Relations between the two nations remain strained, with anti-Vietnamese protests in Cambodia and accusations of "ingratitude" by Vietnam. Last year tensions resurfaced over Phnom Penh's planned canal project and differing stances on China.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Keir Starmer has condemned Elon Musk's "increasingly erratic attacks" on the government, The Guardian says. According to the PM, Musk's "lies and misinformation" risk amplifying the "poison" of the far right. "Smokers and obese sent to back of the NHS queue", says The Telegraph, reporting on reforms announced by the government that mean patients will only be given a date for an operation if they have been assessed as "fit to proceed". Meanwhile, The Times says plans to build thousands of new plug-in points herald an "electric car revolution".

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Fighting crime in C major

Residents in a wealthy north London suburb being terrorised by drug gang operations were left unimpressed by police advice to help tackle the anti-social behaviour: play classical music. Met Police told locals who complained of smashed car windows and daytime drug dealing to contact the local council and "ask them to play classical music", which they said "has been proven to deter and prevent crimes". But the advice came with a caveat; the music "should not be played at excessive volume" as this could "cause other complaints".

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Sorcha Bradley, Justin Klawans, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: David Kawai / Bloomberg / Getty Images; Michael Regan / Getty Images; Susannah Ireland / AFP / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.