Zero Hedge

They Know It Would Trigger Mass Unrest...

They Know It Would Trigger Mass Unrest...

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

The sister of a young British mother butchered by a small-boat arrival has torn into the Labour government for going to court to keep the public from seeing who is committing what crime in this country.

Alex Whyte told GB News she feels "sick, disgusted and completely let down." Anger, she said, "doesn't even cover what I feel, and it never will."

Labour, she added, is "too afraid to admit" what open borders have done to Britain.

Rhiannon Whyte was a 27-year-old mother. Her son was five when she was murdered by a Sudanese migrant being housed at the hotel wage worked in.

Deng Chol Majek stabbed her 23 times with a crosshead screwdriver. Nineteen blows were to the head. Eleven penetrated her skull. One went so deep it pierced her brain stem. She never regained consciousness and died in hospital three days later.

Majek had arrived in Britain on a small boat, and claimed asylum. He had already been refused in Germany and Italy. He lied about his age, claiming to be 19. The court put him between 25 and 28.

After the killing he threw Rhiannon's phone in the River Tame, bought a beer, changed his clothes and was caught on CCTV dancing and laughing. He showed no remorse, and in January of this year he was given life with a minimum of 29 years.

Alex Whyte now helps raise that little boy. She has described the scream he made when he was told his mother was gone as something that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Rhiannon, she said, "never saw danger." She "wanted people to be happy and safe. Hence why she worked at the hotel."

"But we're not safe. She wasn't safe," she urges.

She is among relatives who have now written to Justice Secretary Alex Norris. Reporting has put the group at 11 families, with 18 relatives of victims signing. They want publication of conviction data by nationality for England and Wales from 2018 to 2024 - the dataset the Centre for Migration Control requested under Freedom of Information law.

The Information Commissioner ordered the Ministry of Justice to release it. The MoJ's cost and "identification" arguments were rejected. Then Justice Secretary David Lammy sanctioned an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. Taxpayers are now funding a legal fight to keep the figures sealed.

The families' letter put it plainly: "Imagine if someone you loved had been attacked, abused, or killed by a person who had entered Britain from abroad." They wrote that victims and the public "deserve transparency about the people who enter our country and the crimes they subsequently commit." Withholding the data, they said, damages trust and blocks "meaningful action." They urged ministers to "stop spending public money on this attempted cover-up."

Among them: eight members of Rhiannon's family; relatives of a 14-year-old girl sexually assaulted by an Ethiopian asylum seeker housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping; Ann Newman, partner of dog walker Wayne Broadhurst, stabbed to death by Afghan national Dawood Safi in Uxbridge; Fiona Goddard, a Bradford grooming gang victim; and Sammy Woodhouse, raped in the Rotherham scandal.

Alex Whyte cannot see why British sex offenders can be checked on a register while foreign offenders are wrapped in official silence.

"If you have a sex offender who's from this country, you can go on a register and find out who they are. Why is that not for everyone who's a part of this country? They want to be treated the same as everyone else. They want to be entitled to everything that we are entitled to here. We should know who they are and what they're doing."

Asked what her sister would make of the block, she did not hesitate. "She would be outraged. Completely outraged."

"She no longer has a voice, but I do. And I will never stop until there is real justice."

"Open your eyes. You are so aware of what is happening, but you are too afraid to admit it. We as a country deserve better. My sister deserved better. Her little boy deserves better, and we will never stop until we've got real justice."

Rhiannon's mother Siobhan Whyte called the refusal "diabolical." Labour, she said, is "constantly denying what's going on." She pointed to Home Office leaflets telling asylum seekers that rape is illegal and what the age of consent is - documents that exist only because officials already know the risk.

"They know they're a danger, and that's the sad reality of it. Instead of stopping, detaining, deporting, they'd rather spend thousands on publishing stupid documents that mean nothing," she urged.

She aded, "I think our Government should be protecting women and children and the men of this country, and there is definitely something there, definitely something very weird going on that they seem too scared to protect us."

The MoJ's stock line is that public protection is "our priority," that there is a "record £550 million" victim-support package, and that it will not comment on live proceedings. It denies a cover-up. The appeal itself is the comment.

Partial releases and earlier FOI work have already sketched the picture ministers would rather not print in full.

Foreign nationals accounted for 14.1 per cent of sexual offence convictions in 2025, according to Police National Computer figures the MoJ has allowed out. That lump sum does not break out rape, child sexual abuse or grooming.

Earlier analysis comparing prison numbers with census figures found foreigners overall 27 per cent more likely to be imprisoned than British citizens. Albanians sat at 232.33 imprisonments per 10,000 against 14 for Britons. Kosovars, Vietnamese, Algerians, Jamaicans, Eritreans, Iraqis and Somalis all ran well above the British baseline.

On the railways the imbalance is starker. British Transport Police data obtained by the Centre for Migration Control showed foreign nationals made up 79 per cent of theft arrests on trains in 2025, 40 per cent of drug-offence arrests, 37 per cent of sexual-offence arrests and 36 per cent of violent-crime arrests.

Of 9,771 arrests across England, Wales and Scotland, nearly 3,700 were foreign nationals. CMC research director Robert Bates said the government had "made our trains unsafe" and that any sane government would end the inflow and start deportations.

Across England and Wales, foreign nationals were arrested 172,889 times in the year ending March 2025 - one every 183 seconds. That included 51,212 violence arrests and 11,264 sexual-offence arrests.

Separate CMC work using police, Home Office and ONS figures found foreigners 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for sex crimes than British citizens: nearly 165 arrests per 100,000 against 48 per 100,000 for Britons.

They formed 26.1 per cent of sexual-offence arrests while making up around 9 per cent of the population. In the City of London the foreign share of sex-crime arrests hit 66.9 per cent. In Derbyshire it was 44.8 per cent. Nationalities with the highest rates included Afghans, Iraqis, Algerians and Somalis.

CMC's Robert Bates has called the legal fight "astonishing" and an "attack on transparency and accountability." If some nationalities offend at far higher rates, visa policy can be tightened and, where needed, whole source countries shut off.

Reform UK's Robert Jenrick charged that successive Tory and Labour justice secretaries have refused to publish "this basic information." A Reform government, he said, "would immediately blow the lid on what's really happening and begin deporting these dangerous criminals."

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy asked the obvious question: "Labour has consistently refused to publish sex crime data by nationality. Why are they trying to appeal against releasing the data? Do Labour just want to cover up the truth about foreign national offenders?"

Reform's Zia Yusuf stated "It is a cover-up, and let's call a spade a spade. Tory and Labour Governments now for years have sacrificed their own people, sacrificed their own women and children's safety."

Yusuf further charged that they allowed British women and girls "to be raped and murdered by men who should never have been allowed into the country at all because they worship at the altar of diversity." If Reform wins and Nigel Farage is prime minister, Yusuf said, releasing "all of this data so the British people learn the truth" would be among the first acts of a Reform home secretary.

The same instinct to manage the public rather than inform it runs through the hotel system that employed Rhiannon and housed her killer.

Police Scotland has refused Freedom of Information requests for aggregated call-outs, crimes and arrests at five asylum hotels, including sites in Erskine, Glasgow, Paisley, East Kilbride and Falkirk. The force cited "heightened community tensions" and a risk of physical harm to officers, residents and the public. Even anonymised totals were withheld on the grounds that changing numbers might allow "inferences" about residents, or that incidents might be blamed on protests rather than people living there.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr called it another case of public bodies following an SNP "culture of secrecy."

Former Cladhan Hotel occupant Sadeq Nikzad, from Afghanistan, was jailed in June 2025 for raping a 15-year-old local girl. Another resident, Muhammad Sheikhi, 22, later faced sexual-assault charges. Locals who protested have been arrested, and the data stays locked.

In Epping, an Ethiopian small-boat arrival housed at the Bell Hotel sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman who tried to intervene. He received 12 months. Some locals who protested the hotel later drew longer sentences than the attacker.

That is the two-tier reality families in the Norris letter are living with: the state will spend years and legal fees protecting a spreadsheet, then come down hard on the people who object when the spreadsheet's contents walk out of a hotel and onto a platform.

Siobhan Whyte has said police encouraged the family to soften public remarks after Rhiannon's life support was withdrawn, with officers talking about avoiding "another Southport." She has also said the Prime Minister has "blood on his hands." Majek would have been among the first cohort eligible for Rwanda removals. Labour cancelled the scheme. He stayed. She is dead.

While ministers litigate against sunlight, ordinary Brits have been unwittingly underwriting the activist layer that treats borders as the problem.

A GB News investigation found the National Lottery has channelled more than £140 million toward refugee and migrant projects. A five-year Community Fund audit identified £114.7 million between July 2021 and June 2026 alone, jumping to £43.3 million in 2024/25.

Large recipients included Refugee Action (£3.21 million), the British Refugee Council (£2.97 million) and the Scottish Refugee Council (£1.75 million). Refugee Action has talked of a future "rooted in the fundamental right to move, underpinned by a commitment to anti-racism."

Commentator Rafe Heydel-Mankoo called it "the capture of these institutions by far-left ideology that should have no place in the charitable world."

So the public funds the hotels, funds the legal aid, funds the leaflets explaining that rape is illegal, funds the charities campaigning to keep the boats coming - and then funds the lawyers trying to stop anyone seeing the conviction table.

Alex Whyte and those supporting her are asking for the same honesty the state already applies to British sex offenders, and for a government that will say out loud what it already knows. Labour would rather fight the Information Commissioner than fight the people who should never have been here. That is not public protection. It is self-protection.

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Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 10:30

Iran's Ghalibaf Declares Persian Gulf Oil Flows For 'All Or None'

Iran's Ghalibaf Declares Persian Gulf Oil Flows For 'All Or None'

Via The Cradle

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared on 28 August that either all Persian Gulf countries will be allowed to export oil freely or none will, adding that the security of West Asia depends on the withdrawal of US forces.

"The equation of this war is clear: either all or none!" Ghalibaf said, adding, "In a region where we don’t sell oil, no one else will sell oil either." The speaker emphasized further, "If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe."

via Associated Pre

“Security of the strait depends on the absence of US forces. We have said many times that the situation in the strait will not return to what it was before the war.”

The comments came in response to claims by US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper that US forces had seized full control of the Strait of Hormuz and halted Iranian oil exports. 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued the same day, urged all states to refuse to enforce a new US sanctions package the same day, warning that compliance makes a government complicit in violating international law and the sovereign equality of states.

Washington unveiled the measures under the name “Operation Economic Outcast” after failing to reach its war aims against Iran with military force.

The ministry condemned the package as economic terrorism, stating that it revealed “the criminal intent of those who designed and implemented it to inflict suffering on the Iranian people and deprive Iranian citizens of their fundamental human rights; therefore, it is tantamount to an international crime and a crime against humanity.” 

It said the US was weaponizing the dollar to pressure other governments into backing its policies on Iran, in breach of the UN Charter and the principle of non-intervention.

Tehran also said the sanctions defy the International Court of Justice (ICJ) order of October 3, 2018 requiring Washington to lift barriers to the flow of food, medicine, and medical equipment.

The ministry tied the economic war to the broader US-Israeli offensive against Iran over the past year and a half, and said the failure of the UN and its members to confront those violations has produced “a highly dangerous pattern of lawlessness.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously said that Trump's “Economic D-Day” campaign would deliver Washington nothing but further defeat, calling it a distraction from a US debt crisis that hit a record $40 trillion this month.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the turn to economic war followed Washington's failure to achieve its military objectives, and that the US was now begging its allies for help while claiming Iran was on the brink of collapse.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 09:20

How Much Gas Prices Have Risen Since The Iran War

How Much Gas Prices Have Risen Since The Iran War

Gas prices have climbed sharply across the U.S. following the outbreak of the Iran War, but the size of the increase varies significantly by state.

Using AAA price data from February 18, 2026, as a pre-war baseline and prices as of August 20, 2026, this visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Sofie Gilbert, maps the percentage increase across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Which States Saw the Biggest Gas Price Increases

Iowa has seen the largest percentage increase in the country, with gas prices jumping 69.1% from $2.45 to $4.14 per gallon. Oklahoma follows closely at 68.8%, while Colorado, Minnesota, and Wyoming have each seen increases of more than 60%.

Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Kansas round out the top 10, each up more than 57%.

The table below shows the full breakdown of price changes by state, sorted from largest to smallest percentage change.

StatePre-War Price
(Feb 18 2026)Current Price
(Aug 20 2026)$ Change% Change Iowa$2.45$4.14$1.6969.1% Oklahoma$2.29$3.87$1.5868.8% Colorado$2.76$4.48$1.7262.2% Minnesota$2.57$4.16$1.5961.8% Wyoming$2.70$4.37$1.6761.8% Montana$2.75$4.39$1.6459.7% New Mexico$2.61$4.14$1.5358.5% North Dakota$2.54$4.01$1.4757.7% South Dakota$2.59$4.08$1.4957.7% Kansas$2.47$3.88$1.4157.1% Utah$2.79$4.38$1.5957.0% Nebraska$2.59$4.04$1.4556.1% Arkansas$2.46$3.80$1.3454.6% Wisconsin$2.55$3.94$1.3954.4% Missouri$2.52$3.89$1.3754.3% Ohio$2.70$4.12$1.4252.6% Idaho$2.97$4.49$1.5251.3% Mississippi$2.49$3.66$1.1747.2% Illinois$2.99$4.40$1.4147.1% Louisiana$2.51$3.69$1.1847.0% Michigan$2.92$4.21$1.2944.0% Kentucky$2.59$3.70$1.1143.0% Texas$2.55$3.64$1.0942.8% Alabama$2.63$3.74$1.1142.2% Tennessee$2.58$3.66$1.0841.9% Connecticut$2.90$4.10$1.2041.5% Arizona$3.16$4.47$1.3141.4% Georgia$2.71$3.82$1.1141.1% New Hampshire$2.85$4.01$1.1640.6% Massachusetts$2.90$4.04$1.1439.4% Rhode Island$2.87$4.00$1.1339.2% Maine$2.92$4.06$1.1439.1% New York$3.00$4.15$1.1538.3% Alaska$3.50$4.83$1.3338.1% South Carolina$2.67$3.68$1.0138.0% Vermont$3.00$4.14$1.1437.9% Virginia$2.81$3.86$1.0537.5% District of Columbia$3.09$4.21$1.1236.1% North Carolina$2.77$3.77$1.0036.1% West Virginia$2.85$3.87$1.0235.9% Florida$2.91$3.95$1.0435.6% New Jersey$2.94$3.99$1.0535.6% Maryland$2.92$3.94$1.0235.0% Delaware$2.87$3.87$1.0034.8% Pennsylvania$3.11$4.14$1.0333.0% Nevada$3.64$4.78$1.1431.2% Indiana$2.75$3.56$0.8129.6% Oregon$3.71$4.76$1.0528.3% Washington$4.17$5.24$1.0725.7% Hawaii$4.40$5.43$1.0323.4% California$4.59$5.59$1.0021.8%

Many of the states with the largest percentage increases started from relatively low pre-war prices, which magnified the percentage change as crude prices rose.

Oklahoma, for example, had the lowest baseline price in the country at $2.29 per gallon and has since climbed nearly 69%.

How Much More Americans Are Paying at the Pump

Across the country, the average increase works out to roughly $1.25 per gallon, or about 44% from the pre-war baseline.

That translates to an extra $15 for a 12-gallon fill-up. At roughly 450 gallons of fuel consumed per vehicle each year, based on Federal Highway Administration data, a sustained $1.25-per-gallon increase would add about $560 to annual fuel costs.

The increases followed a major global oil supply disruption after the Iran War closed the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices sharply higher as roughly 10 million barrels per day were taken off the market.

The impact extends well beyond the pump. As a single barrel of oil feeds thousands of everyday products, from plastics to pharmaceuticals, higher crude prices can ripple across the broader economy.

Why the Least Affected States Still Pay the Most

The states with the smallest percentage increases were largely those already paying the most. High fuel taxes and climate-related fuel policies, including carbon pricing programs in California and Washington, help keep baseline prices elevated.

California also uses a state-mandated fuel blend that cannot easily be supplemented with gasoline from outside the state.

Hawaii faces a different constraint: as an island chain with no pipeline access, its fuel must be shipped in, adding a persistent logistical premium to each gallon.

California saw the smallest increase at 21.8%, followed by Hawaii at 23.4% and Washington at 25.7%. Yet all three remain the most expensive states in the country, at $5.59, $5.43, and $5.24 per gallon, respectively.

If you enjoyed this graphic, check out Charted: The World’s Biggest Oil Producers on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 08:45

US-Backed SDF Leader Joins Sharaa Regime As Presidential Advisor After Kurdish Force Dissolved

US-Backed SDF Leader Joins Sharaa Regime As Presidential Advisor After Kurdish Force Dissolved

Via The Cradle

Self-proclaimed Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has appointed Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi as a presidential advisor, following the dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in an integration deal with Damascus earlier this week.

"President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 164 of 2026 on Thursday, appointing Mustafa Khalil Abdi, known as Mazloum Abdi, as an advisor to the Presidency of the Republic," state media SANA reported on 27 August.

Abdi headed the SDF, an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that was created with US support in 2015 as part of the war to topple the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.

The SDF took control of large swathes of northeast Syria from ISIS, including the country's main oil fields, as part of Washington's efforts to keep Syria divided and prevent reconstruction by Assad's government.

Abdi and the SDF created an autonomous region that also included Sunni Arab majority areas taken from ISIS. However, when Sharaa – a former Al-Qaeda leader – took power in Damascus in December 2024 with the help of the US, Turkey, and Israel, the SDF's usefulness to Washington was diminished.

Sharaa's extremist-led Syrian army defeated the SDF in January 2026 after weeks of clashes, bringing Kurdish autonomy to an end. Abdi announced the dissolution of the SDF on Tuesday as part of a deal to integrate the Kurds' forces and civilian administration into the state.

“Our struggle will continue to cement our people's rights in the constitution,” Abdi stated after announcing the integration. “The integration deal was a major victory for Sharaa, but an end to long-held Kurdish hopes for autonomy,” Saudi newspaper ASharq al-Awsat wrote on Friday.

Abdi has pointed to a decree signed by Sharaa claiming to enshrine the Kurds' national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a national language as a victory for the SDF.

Abdi is a veteran of the PKK, considered a terrorist group by Sharaa's strongest backer, Turkey. The PKK waged a deadly insurgency against Ankara for decades before formally renouncing its armed struggle last year.

In recent years, Turkiye has moved to improve relations with Kurdish parties, in particular in Iraq, as part of its “growing with the Kurds” policy.

Because Kurds have significant populations in Syria and Iraq, Turkish leaders wish to use them as a vehicle to extend their influence in neighboring countries in a way enjoyed by the Turks during the period of the Ottoman Empire.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, is a close partner with Ankara. The US, Turkey, and the KDP all covertly backed ISIS during the organization's takeover of large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, including during the genocide of Yezidis in the Sinjar region of Iraq.

Tyler Durden Sat, 08/29/2026 - 08:10

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