World
Disgruntled homeowner protests shoddy kitchen remodel with Cold War-era weapon: 'Pay me back'
A British man outraged over how his kitchen was reportedly poorly remodeled is protesting the work by parking a decommissioned Cold War-era weapon in a home improvement store’s parking lot – and is refusing to move it.
“I intend to stay as long as it takes for justice. I find it bizarre that Wickes can choose which bits of the law they will obey. The tank is there as a peaceful protest. If they wish it to be moved, there is a simple solution: Pay me back what they have of mine and my out-of-pocket expenses,” Paul Gibbons, 63, said of his protest against U.K. home improvement store chain Wickes.
Gibbons said his kitchen ordeal started last year in February, when Wickes installed a new kitchen in his Kingsclere home for £25,000, or roughly $31,700. He told British media that he had scouted other home improvement shops and contractors before settling on Wickes to carry out the job.
Gibbons argued he’s been left with a nightmare kitchen that has led to mold growing under his sink, drawers that don’t close, and one drawer that nearly fell on his dog.
PROTESTING FRENCH FARMERS PLAN ‘SIEGE OF THE CAPITAL’ IN PARIS, REJECTING GOVERNMENT CONCESSIONS
Paul Gibbons outside a Wickes location in the U.K. where he is protesting his poorly renovated kitchen. (SWNS)
“The finish throughout is so poor, and half of the kitchen doesn’t fit as it should. I agreed to the contract and what I was told would be two weeks of work, and 10 months later I am still left with a kitchen which I can’t even use as you should,” he said in December, according to the Telegraph.
He said the store has not rectified the allegedly shoddy kitchen, and he is “making a stand” by parking a 1963 decommissioned Abbot self-propelled gun outside of a Wickes’ location in Basingstoke.
“The worst thing about it is that Wickes refuses to accept that the quality of the kitchen is nowhere near the standard it should be,” he said late last year. “They should deal with these issues when they arise rather than palming people off, and I’m making a stand simply to say that it’s not right.”
FOUND IN A 78-YEAR-OLD’S CELLAR: A WWII TANK
A self-propelled gun sits on a Wickes parking lot in the U.K. (SWNS )
Gibbons said he borrowed the artillery piece from his friend, who loans out the vehicle to people protesting big stores, and parked it outside the store on Dec. 27. He’s demanding the store refund his money.
“Warning Incompetent Complacent Kitchen Equipment Supplier,” a sign on the vehicle reads.
This month, Gibbons said a note was posted on the gun warning it would be removed “within 14 days,” as of Jan. 23.
“This vehicle/item has been notified to us as being abandoned and/or not having valid road tax and will be removed within 14 days of this notice being issued,” the note states, SWNS reported.
“If this vehicle is not abandoned, please contact us on the below number immediately and/or arrange for it to be removed from site.”
A Cold War-era self-propelled vehicle sits on a home improvement store’s parking lot in protest of what a homeowner says was a poor kitchen installation. (SWNS )
If it’s not removed, the vehicle will reportedly be “sold or destroyed.”
‘ALIEN TANK’ FOUND ON THE MOON, UFO HUNTERS SAY
Gibbons shot back that he has no intention of moving the vehicle until he is refunded. He added that he plans to contact local police if the store attempts to move or destroy the vehicle.
“I am not looking for huge amounts of compensation, I just want to be back to where I was last year when this debacle started,” he said, according to SWNS.
A Wickes spokesperson previously told local outlets they are aware of the vehicle and are working “to resolve the issue.”
“We are aware of the situation at the Basingstoke store and would like to apologise for any inconvenience that has been caused to shoppers visiting the store today,” the spokesperson said. “Our Customer Relations team is in contact with the customer to discuss their installation and help to resolve the issue.”
World
Map: 3.8-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Las Vegas
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A minor, 3.8-magnitude earthquake struck in Nevada on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The earthquake prompted a flurry of chatter online, but no widespread damage was reported.
The temblor happened at 1:47 p.m. Pacific time about 7 miles northwest of Summerlin South, Nev., data from the agency shows.
On social media, residents across the area described the earthquake jolting their homes and rattling windows and doors. Some said they heard the boom-like sound of an explosion, while others said they didn’t feel anything or described a small disturbance that lacked any significant oomph.
Brian Cohen was at home putting away groceries in Lone Mountain, about a half hour west of the Las Vegas strip, just before 2 p.m. when he felt the entire house rattle intensely for about three seconds.
“The whole house felt like it was lifting up,” said Mr. Cohen, who is in his 60s. He went outside and saw a neighbor, who also reported feeling the jolt.
Mr. Cohen, who has lived in the Las Vegas area since 1994, said this wasn’t his first earthquake. “This one is the strongest one I felt,” he said, adding there was no damage to his home.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Aftershocks forecast
While individual earthquakes can’t be predicted, geologists can calculate the chances that more earthquakes will follow an initial quake using statistical models of past events.
For this earthquake, it is unlikely — about a 4 chance — that a larger quake will strike the area in the next day, according to the U.S.G.S. Here is the forecast for aftershocks of other sizes:
3.0 mag. or stronger
Perhaps
26%
—
4.0 mag. or stronger
Unlikely
5%
—
5.0 mag. or stronger
Unlikely
Source: United States Geological Survey. William B. Davis, Joel Eastwood and John Keefe/The New York Times
The rate of aftershocks typically decreases over time, and forecasts are available for the next week, month and year.
Subsequent quakes have been reported in the same area. Such temblors are typically aftershocks caused by minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Aftershocks detected
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.
The New York Times When quakes and aftershocks occurred
Sources: United States Geological Survey (epicenter, aftershocks, shake intensity); LandScan via Oak Ridge National Laboratory (population density) | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Pacific time. Shake data is as of Thursday, June 4 at 5:25 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Thursday, June 4 at 8:23 p.m. Eastern.
World
As Hezbollah rejects truce, families on Israel’s northern border describe life under fire
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Two days after another ceasefire was announced between Israel and U.S. terrorist designated group Hezbollah, Yulia Bar-Dan was standing outside her temporary home in Kibbutz Manara in northern Israel when the familiar sound of an interceptor echoed overhead.
“There will probably be another siren soon,” she told Fox News Digital.
Minutes later, an alert appeared on her phone warning residents in northern Israel to take shelter.
For Bar-Dan, the scene captured the reality of life on Israel’s northern border nearly two years after Hezbollah joined the war against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.
After Hezbollah entered the recent war in support of Iran, Washington launched a diplomatic effort aimed at turning the ceasefire into a broader arrangement for Lebanon.
ISRAEL OPENS FIRE IN LEBANON AT ‘SUSPECTS’ ALLEGEDLY VIOLATING TRUCE, WHICH HAS ENTERED ITS SECOND DAY
Multiple rounds of talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials have taken place in Washington, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly announced ceasefire understandings aimed at restoring calm along the border. Residents of communities like Manara, Israel, say the rockets, drones and uncertainty never really stopped.
An Israeli soldier stands near military vehicles on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah near the Israel-Lebanon border on Nov. 28. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)
“A ceasefire is supposed to be on both sides,” she said. “Not that Hezbollah keeps shooting at us and we just keep absorbing it.”
When Fox News Digital first spoke to Bar-Dan in December 2024 during the war, she and her husband had fled Manara, Israel, with their three children and were living out of a single hotel room, unsure whether they would ever return home.
Today, roughly 200 of the kibbutz’s 280 residents have returned, Bar-Dan said. But many, including Bar-Dan’s family, still cannot live in their original homes because of war damage.
Yulia Bar-Dan and her husband are pictured during quieter times at Kibbutz Manara, Israel. (Yulia Bar-Dan)
Despite repeated ceasefire announcements, residents say normal life remains elusive.
“There hasn’t really been a routine or a quiet day since February,” she said.
Schools officially reopened in early June, but Bar-Dan decided not to send her children.
“They take the bus to school,” she said. “What if there’s a siren on the way? I can’t take that chance.”
ISRAEL DESTROYS HEZBOLLAH’S ‘LARGEST PRECISION-GUIDED MISSILES MANUFACTURING SITE’ AS GROUP VOWS TO ‘FIGHT’
Hezbollah terrorists holding rifles are shown in this image. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Her frustration is not directed at Hezbollah alone.
Like many residents interviewed by Fox News Digital, Bar-Dan says there is a growing disconnect between the reality experienced on the border and the reality described by politicians.
“It doesn’t really matter where the decisions are being made,” she said. “The decisions just need to match reality. Right now there is a decision, but the reality is completely different.”
A year and a half after most of Manara’s residents were evacuated amid fears of a Hezbollah invasion, community leader Yochai Wolfin says residents have developed their own name for the current situation.
“We call it ‘the ceasefire war,’” he said.
The phrase has become common in the community.
First came a year and a half of evacuation. Then came the return home. Then came what Wolfin describes as three months of “fire within a ceasefire.”
The uncertainty has become part of daily life.
Children study inside shelters. Parts of the kibbutz still lack protected rooms. Construction projects remain unfinished because contractors are reluctant to work so close to the border.
He said many residents increasingly feel that the decisions determining their future are being made far from the communities that bear the consequences.
ISRAEL WARNS IT WILL GO AFTER LEBANON DIRECTLY IF CEASE-FIRE WITH HEZBOLLAH COLLAPSES
A Lebanese man holds a Hezbollah flag near the border with Israel in the southern Lebanese village of Hula on Dec. 20, 2020. (Jalaa Marey/AFP)
“Who knows what tomorrow will bring?” Wolfin said. “We know who is calling the shots. We saw it a few days ago when Trump announced another ceasefire. But for us, the reality on the ground hasn’t changed.”
The comments come as Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem warned Thursday that northern Israel would remain unsafe as long as Israeli strikes continue in Lebanon, according to Reuters.
In a written statement broadcast on June 4, 2026, Qassem condemned the Washington-mediated framework as “absurd, humiliating, and insulting,” calling it a roadmap for surrender.
For residents of Israel’s northern border communities, the statements reinforced what many say they have been experiencing for months: a ceasefire that exists on paper but not in daily life.
Naor Shamia, who heads Manara’s emergency response team, says residents increasingly worry that temporary emergency measures are becoming permanent.
“The fear isn’t today,” he said. “The fear is that this becomes years. We are in a deadlock.”
Across the border region, similar concerns are heard.
Fire burns at Kibbutz Manara following another attack. (Kibbutz Manara)
In the community of Adamit, resident Yael Cohen-Arazi described the contrast between the beauty surrounding her and the reality of living under constant threat.
“Every morning I wake up and think I’m living in paradise,” she said in footage provided to Fox News Digital by the Israeli news agency TPS-IL. “Then there are the explosions that shake my soul.”
Her children, she said, have spent so much of their lives under fire that they no longer know what normal looks like.
“I tell them there are children who don’t live like this,” she said.
Back in Manara, Israel, another alert interrupted the afternoon.
Bar-Dan says she is not angry anymore. Mostly, she is tired and sad.
“I feel bad for the soldiers,” she said. “Every day there is another casualty, and there is still no solution.”
Yet she insists she is staying.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Members of the Kibbutz Manara rapid response unit respond to Hezbollah rocket attacks on Kibbutz Manara. (Kibbutz Manara)
“This is our home,” she said. “Someone has to live on the borders of this country.”
Then another explosion sounded in the distance.
World
Europe Today: Costa speaks exclusively to Euronews as EU-Western Balkans summit underway
A high-stakes EU-Western Balkans summit is underway in Montenegro, with enlargement in the spotlight and France and Germany pushing for a more gradual path to EU integration. Our EU Editor Maria Tadeo is on the ground and speaks exclusively to European Council President António Costa.
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