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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 21 May 2022
Dutch leader faces pressure over old-school text messages

By MOLLY QUELL iPhone, which he says he
Associated Press only uses to read the news.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands The prime minister denies
(AP) — The long-serving any wrongdoing.
Dutch prime minister is in “I have kept to the letter,
hot water over his low-tech but also the spirit of the law
cell phone. from A to Z,” he said during
Mark Rutte is facing un- the heated parliamentary
usual political and public debate.
pressure after revelations He has long been criticized
that he has been deleting for his secrecy, holding that
text messages about offi- discussions between gov-
cial matters for years. Crit- ernment officials shouldn’t
ics accuse him of conceal- be publicly available. Rutte
ing state activity but he tries to limit official business
says the messages just took to phone calls or face-to-
up too much space in his face meetings where no
years-old Nokia phone. notes are taken.
Rutte survived a no-confi- Written communication, in-
dence vote in parliament cluding text messages, can
on Thursday over the delet- be disclosed to journalists
ed text messages, but op- under the Open Govern-
position parties are calling ment Act, while phone
for further inquiry. Questions Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, appears to remove the sim card form his smartphone as he calls are not required to be
have also surfaced over waits for the arrival of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May recorded.
19, 2022.
whether his use of the old A government lawyer ini-
phone might have jeopar- for years. The daily news- an official archive. Unilever CEO Paul Polman tially claimed Rutte need-
dized national security. paper noticed messages Messages that were missing regarding a controversial ed to delete the messages
In investigating the govern- were missing from an of- include one from Amster- tax issue. because of a shortage
ment’s handling of the CO- ficial records request and, dam Mayor Femke Halse- Rutte, now in his fourth of storage space on the
VID-19 pandemic, Dutch following a lawsuit, Rutte ma regarding a Black Lives term and among the EU’s phone, but Rutte later said
newspaper De Volkskrant revealed that he immedi- Matter protest in June 2020 longest-serving leaders, has it was because the phone
discovered that Rutte had ately deleted messages he where attendance was ten been using his Nokia 301 was slow if too many mes-
been regularly deleting deemed unimportant, for- times higher than expect- for years for communica- sages were kept in the in-
texts from his Nokia 301 warding the remainder for ed, and a message from tion, though he also has an box. q

U.N. nuclear agency chief: Fukushima transparency important

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and going decommissioning in neighboring countries taken seriously and every from the wastewater. Last
HARUKA NUGA and preparations for the about possible health haz- effort must be made to ad- year, the reconstruction
Associated Press wastewater discharge. ards from the release of dress it,” he said. “For these agency had to remove a
TOKYO (AP) — The chief of Japan’s government says the wastewater, which in- countries, any countries, video which portrayed triti-
the International Atomic disposal of the water, cludes tritium, a byproduct what they have every right um as a cute cartoon char-
Energy Agency stressed stored in hundreds of large of nuclear power produc- to demand is that the in- acter swimming in a glass
the importance of trans- tanks, is necessary for the tion that is inseparable from ternational standards are of water.
parency on Friday after vis- plant’s cleanup and de- the water and a possible complied with, nothing Japan’s nuclear regulator
iting the tsunami-wrecked commissioning to move for- carcinogen at high levels. more, nothing less.” this week approved a plan
Fukushima nuclear power ward. “I proceed from the prin- Grossi stressed that the by the plant’s operator, To-
plant, where he observed Grossi touched on linger- ciple that every serious IAEA’s role is to ensure that kyo Electric Power Compa-
preparations for the re- ing concerns in Japan and honest concern must be measures taken at the ny Holdings, to release the
lease of treated radioac- plant are fully in line with in- water, saying radiation risks
tive wastewater that has ternational standards that to the environment were
prompted concerns inside have been accepted by minimal.
and outside Japan. those expressing concerns. A massive earthquake and
Rafael Grossi, the director China and South Korea tsunami in 2011 destroyed
general of IAEA, which is as- have fiercely opposed the the Fukushima plant’s cool-
sisting Japan’s plan to start plan. ing systems, causing three
releasing the wastewater Local fishing communities reactor cores to melt and
into the sea next year, said say the release will hurt the release large amounts of
his agency will help main- reputation of their catch radiation.
tain transparency through- because the wastewater Water that is being used
out the process. also contains other isotopes to cool the damaged re-
Grossi is meeting with of- such as cesium and stron- actor cores, which remain
ficials to discuss the plan, tium, which will be reduced highly radioactive, has
which has received in- way below legal limits, but since leaked into the reac-
ternational attention. On Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency not to zero. tor basements, where it is
Thursday he visited the (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks during a news conference at the Japan’s government has contained, collected and
Fukushima Daiichi plant, Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Friday, May 20, 2022. faced repeated public crit- stored in tanks.q
where he observed its on- Associated Press icism for minimizing any risk