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Bellringers from across the country have gathered at the Minster for the National 12-Bell Striking Contest Final on Saturday (June 20).

It is the first time the competition has been held in York since 1999, when the home band won its own bells.

As The Press reported, the Minster’s bells will ring for six hours straight, finishing at 5.30pm when the winner of the Taylor Trophy is announced.

Finalists this year include bands from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Guildford, Leeds and York.

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The National 12-Bell Striking Contest has been held annually since 1975 and is regarded as the premier competition in the art of change ringing.

A Minster spokesperson said people are encouraged to visit the cathedral during the competition.

“Whether you are a dedicated contest follower, an occasional listener, or simply curious to experience the sound of world-class ringing in a great cathedral, you will be warmly welcomed,” they said.

Further details, timetable and results are available at 12bell.org.uk/york2026

TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Iran on Saturday said it closed the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and warned that while negotiators were going to Switzerland for talks with the United States on their interim agreement, not much likely will happen if the fighting doesn’t stop.

U.S. President Donald Trump, in response, threatened to impose American tolls in the crucial waterway if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days, saying the money would be for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the Middle East.” His social media post underscored that the agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days.

The announcements indicated a rough start to technical-level U.S.-Iran talks that key mediator Pakistan said will begin Sunday, with Qatari mediators also participating.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance left for Switzerland on Saturday evening, just as Iranian state TV posted video showing Iran’s negotiators arriving there. They include parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and central bank and oil officials, among others. The deal calls for billions of dollars of Iran’s assets to be unfrozen.

Talks were meant to start Friday, but the Iranians initially canceled their plans to attend because of escalating fighting in Lebanon. Negotiators for the U.S. and Qatar, with help from Iran, worked out an agreement between Israel and Hezbollah to tamp down hostilities, according to U.S. and regional officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Vance told reporters he would be in Switzerland “for a day or two” but was optimistic on making progress in the nuclear talks and on a ceasefire in southern Lebanon.

Negotiations toward a final agreement will begin once key commitments are upheld, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said. If they are not, “the memorandum of understanding as a whole will be jeopardized.”

The strait once again becomes a challenge

But the strait has emerged again as a focus. Iran’s joint military command said it was closed because of the U.S. “clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts.

The U.S. disputed Iran’s announcement.

“Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Traffic continues to flow, and U.S. forces are monitoring the situation to ensure this remains the case,” said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command. The military said that 55 merchant ships transited Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil.

The global economy braced for more uncertainty.

Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed earlier in the week, a milestone that left plenty of questions unanswered. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.

Vance earlier confirmed that top negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were already in Switzerland and working through technical details of anticipated negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the issue is intricate and the time can be extended.

Hezbollah and Israel went to war two days after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.

A new round of U.S.-backed talks between the Lebanese government, and Israel is expected in Washington next week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until any threat to Israel is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon.

Fighting continues near the Israel-Lebanon border

A strike on Lebanon’s Barish village killed four members of a family: parents and two children. In Arab Salim village, a body was pulled from a destroyed house, and in Doueir and Kfar Rumman villages, drone strikes killed a person on a motorcycle and a Lebanese soldier. Nine people were killed in strikes in Qannarit, Sohmor and Shehour villages.

Israeli jets flew low over the coastal city of Tyre.

“Our entire lives would change if there’s a ceasefire,” said one resident, Hussein Khoshman.

Some residents of northern Israel doubted the fighting would stop.

“I don’t believe in a ceasefire because it doesn’t exist,” said Miriam Hod in Metula.

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Bassem Mroue reported from Beirut, and Munir Ahmed from Islamabad. Abby Sewell in Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Seung Min Kim and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, and Jamey Keaten in Zurich, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

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A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s last name to Baghaei, not Bagahei.

ROME (AP) — The head of Latin America’s top development bank made a pitch to Pope Leo XIV this week in the face of the Vatican’s call to divest from the mining industry: that the mistakes of the past can be avoided in extracting rare earth minerals to supply a global tech boom.

Ilan Goldfajn, head of the Inter-American Development Bank, met privately with the pope on Friday and asserted the potential of rare earth mining, saying it could be a boon to Latin America provided there are safeguards and value is added locally.

It’s probably not an easy sell. The Vatican for years has taken a firm stand against multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favor of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and livelihoods are often ravaged when mining projects come to town.

Goldfajn’s visit, which followed one earlier this year by mining executives, suggests that he recognizes the weight of the pope’s words in the majority-Catholic region, and a desire to sensitize him to the possibility of a better way of doing business. Whether Leo can be swayed is another matter, given his own experience in the region and criticism of the often corrupt deals mining companies ink with governments in the developing world.

Mining has a checkered, centuries-long history in Latin America, from forced labor and displacement of Indigenous peoples to deforestation, poisoning of waterways and deadly dam collapses. Foreign companies withdrew much of the wealth from the earth without enriching local populations. In colonial times, silver and gold made its way across the ocean to adorn Catholic churches.

Leo, who spent two decades working as a missionary in Peru, would be intimately familiar with the plight of Indigenous peoples in mining areas and the environmental impact of extraction industries on the land. He ministered in Chulucanas, in the archdiocese of Piura, which has huge copper mining projects, and in Trujillo, known for its gold deposits. His final Peruvian posting, Chiclayo, is a big logistical hub for northern Peru’s extraction industries.

Leo is expected to visit Peru in November, including places where he ministered. In each of the three sub-Saharan countries he visited during his April trip to Africa — Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea — he blasted the “colonization” of Africa’s minerals by mining companies.

It makes sense for people like Goldfajn to try to engage Leo, even if the pope alone won’t move investment decisions, Bryan Harris, managing partner at Sabio, a Latin America-focused strategic advisory firm, wrote in an email.

“The decades he spent in Peru give him personal credibility and his messaging on mining sets the tone for how dioceses and parishes across the continent will engage with mining companies and projects,” said Harris, who consults for international mining companies in the region. “These groups are often the basis of local opposition movements to mining, so the Pope has considerable sway on whether relations are confrontational or conciliatory.”

Harris noted that processing of rare earths can be extremely dirty, involving heavy chemical use that can contaminate water resources without close monitoring of companies’ sustainability commitments and enforcement by federal regulators.

Mining as colonization in modern day

Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, a native of Argentina, singled out the toll of mining in his 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be,” noting the pollution of underground water systems as a result of runoff, the mercury pollution in gold mining or sulfur dioxide pollution in copper mining.

Francis said it was “essential” for Indigenous communities to be the principal dialogue partners when large projects affecting their land are being considered.

The Vatican didn’t provide any readout of Leo’s private audience with Goldfajn. In a separate audience Friday, Leo met with participants in a conference at the Vatican’s environmental educational center named for Francis’ 2015 encyclical. He denounced the profit-at-all cost mentality of those who seek to plunder the earth “at the expense of the most vulnerable and enhances the risk of dehumanization.”

There are 75 million tons (82.7 million U.S. tons) of rare earth oxides around the world, more than half in China, and with Brazil home to the second-largest reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s most recent estimate.

The plans are still at an early stage

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A Peterborough City Council cabinet member has suggested the Embankment could become home to a state-of-the-art youth activity hub as part of plans to redevelop the city centre.

Councillor Mohammed Jamil revealed the ambitious initiative on the council’s monthly ‘Ask the Cabinet’ podcast while discussing the new Cygnet Bridge with Council Leader Shabina Qayyum.

“We’re looking at a Youth Zone to go on the Embankment to go with the Lido and the new swimming pool,” Cllr Jamil said.

Cllr Jamil said the new purpose-built hub would be a “very innovative” space that would be “very successful in attracting youths and trying to keep them off the streets”. The councillor added: “They’ve set these things up in places like Wigan, Bolton and East London.”

The existing Youth Zones mentioned by Cllr Jamil are expansive, state-of-the-art facilities developed by OnSide, a national youth charity.

According to its website, the charity’s aim is to “build a network of state-of-the-art, multimillion-pound youth centres in the UK’s most disadvantaged areas [that] are incredible spaces filled with energy, inspiration and highly skilled youth workers who truly believe in young people”.

OnSide’s Youth Zone in Wigan town centre boasts 15 dedicated areas, including four 40-metre floodlit football pitches, an art room, music room, and climbing wall. It is open to all young people across the town aged from 8 to 19 (up to 25 with additional needs). Cllr Jamil explained that “different youth zones are different in different places”.

The Youth Zone in East London typically offers 20 activities, including fitness, dance, arts, music, media, self-improvement, and sport. A four-court sports hall offers facilities for badminton, football, netball, and basketball, as well as a separate climbing wall.

Elsewhere there is a fitness suite with the latest gym equipment, an outdoor kick pitch, and a kitchen and café area selling healthy food and drink. Dedicated areas for dance, music, film, and multi-media, arts and crafts, gaming and DJ-ing, martial arts, and boxing facilities also feature.

Speculating on how a Youth Zone specific to Peterborough would look, Cllr Jamil said: “It could be computers, it could be employment skills, it could be a whole host of things that youth are interested in.

“We’re just looking to see what the concepts are around the country. Once we’ve sat down and said ‘this is the model we want’ then we’ll let [people] know.”

The Councillor, who is also Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Governance and Deputy Leader of the Labour Group, acknowledged that the plans are still in the early stages.

“We’re still at the infancy stage of doing it and it’s a concept for us,” he said, “but we’re very serious as an administration about getting this done.”

Adding newly constructed buildings to the city centre would require funding. “We’re looking to secure funding to be able to put that on the Embankment,” he said. “We [the council] would have to fund some of it but we are actively looking to make sure that it happens.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The question hangs in the halls at the Capitol: Was it worth it?

Congress, which never authorized the war against Iran yet never fully objected to it, now must grapple with the consequences of President Donald Trump’s nearly four-month conflict: the lives lost, the billions spent and the national security fallout that has reordered the political dynamics in the Middle East.

Ask senators what they think about the deal Trump struck to end the war, and they do not search too far for words.

“Pathetic. Failure. Inevitable conclusion of a combination of never making the case to the American people, flawed strategic vision, lack of grasp of the regional dynamics,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“How many ways, can I say, bad, bad, bad?”

Yet Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a past chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said that because of the president’s actions, “We are safer today.”

“You can criticize — Oh, he didn’t totally win,” Johnson said. “Well, that was always going to be very difficult.”

As Trump moves on to the next phase, it is left to the Congress to pick up the pieces: explaining the war to voters back home, restocking the military arsenal that has run low from bombing runs and trying to ensure the fragile ceasefire holds as the United States seeks to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and work toward an uneasy peace.

More money for the Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the rounds on Capitol Hill this past week as lawmakers consider Defense Department funding as part of the Republican majority’s next big budget package.

The White House has asked for a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon this year, on top of the extra money that Republicans delivered as part of the Trump’s tax cuts package last year.

Republicans are mulling a sizable $350 billion plus-up for Hegseth on par with the White House’s budget request that the GOP could pass on its own, through the reconciliation process that allows majority rule over potential objections from Democrats.

Senators, meanwhile, are seeking to set some guardrails on Hegseth with a provision to block a portion of his travel fund until the Pentagon delivers various reports. One such report is on an investigation into the strike on an elementary school in Iran that killed more than 165 people, a flashpoint at the start of the war.

Officials have said they believe the U.S. was responsible for the strike and that it was based on faulty intelligence.

Questions swirl over what’s next in Iran

Lawmakers are still processing what just happened after Trump swiftly signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran and opened a window of 60-day talks toward ending Tehran’s nuclear program.

“I understand the president’s trying to find a peaceful solution to this,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees. “I commend him for that. But we’ve got a lot of questions.”

Senators are particularly concerned about the tentative deal’s provision for a potential $300 billion fund for the “reconstruction and economic development” of Iran.

To many skeptical Republicans, that money sounds similar to the planeloads-of-cash narrative they used against the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which offered a slim fraction of that amount, some $1.7 billion overall. To this day, Trump tells an exaggerated story of how that payment to Iran, for U.S. military equipment it never received, was made.

“The only concerns I have are the money and the conditions,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

“If we send a trainload, a shipload, it’s gonna age as well as that,” he said.

Circumspect over what was gained and lost

Over and again Congress tried and failed to exert its authority under the war powers act to halt the U.S. military action in Iran.

The House ultimately passed a war powers resolution that sought to force an end to the war after a small number of Republicans joined the Democratic measure last month. The Senate has voted nine times, including this past week, but failed to reach the majority needed.

At the same time, Congress did not affirmatively authorize the war with a use of force resolution, as has been done in certain other conflicts, including the Iraq War.

“I’m glad that the conflict has finally ended and hope the ceasefire holds,” said a statement from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Shaheen said the country must be clear-eyed about what has come about.

Not one of the president’s objectives has been achieved, she said, and Iran won significant concessions.

“The American people are paying the price with higher costs in every aspect of life and tens of billions in tax dollars spent,” she said.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said it’s hard to see what leverage the U.S. gained to force Iran to a better negotiation.

“You want to be able to give the benefit of the doubt,” she said.

But Murkowski said, “I think we’re in a place where there is a deal that has been signed, but it doesn’t appear to me that it puts us in that much of a different position than prior to the beginning of the war.”

___

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to the report.

Utah has spent the past year fighting measles outbreaks — a grim milestone that could affect whether the United States can keep its measles-free designation.

More than 680 people have gotten sick since the state’s first outbreak began on June 20, 2025.

Unlike measles outbreaks in Texas, South Carolina and Arizona, the spread in Utah has been tough to contain to one region — infecting undervaccinated communities in nearly every county.

Measles popped up in healthcare settings, big-box stores and restaurants, and youth sporting events. In February, an exposure at a state high school wrestling championship sparked at least 46 cases among attendees.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine. It causes a tell-tale rash, high fevers, strong cough, ear infections and diarrhea.

While most recover, some — including young babies, pregnant people and those with weak immune systems — are at higher risk of developing dangerous complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, blindness or even dying. Even healthy people can develop issues years down the road, including a rare but fatal degenerative brain disease that manifests about a decade after infection.

The measles vaccine is safe and 97% protective after two doses.

Though Utah’s spread has slowed in recent weeks, state epidemiologist Leisha Nolen sees little opportunity to rest. She’s worried the start of school and arrival of colder weather in the fall will cause measles to surge again.

“It’s still here, it’s still transmitting,” she said. “We just need those few cases to hit the wrong community and it could flare up really big again.”

Utah sees the impacts of dropping vaccination rates

The worst spread has been in the southwestern part of the state, where 265 people have fallen ill with the vaccine-preventable disease since last summer. Overall, measles infections hit 22 of the state’s 29 counties.

In the state’s rural northeast, the conditions were also ripe for measles to spread. Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties — collectively dubbed the “tricounty” health region — has seen the second-largest decline in childhood vaccination rates in the state.

More than 16% of the region’s kindergarteners were missing their measles vaccines in the last school year, according to state data. Statewide, 12.8% were missing their vaccine, putting the state far short of the 95% vaccination rate needed to prevent measles outbreaks.

The TriCounty Health Department logged 74 cases of measles this spring, after people who got sick at the youth wrestling tournament spread the virus in school and later within their households.

The frontier region had seen a rise in vaccine hesitancy for some time, said Sydnee Lyons, the health department’s public information officer.

Despite the large number of cases, local and state health officials consider TriCounty’s measles response a success.

Health officials focused efforts on mitigating the inevitable spread. Unvaccinated students were excluded from in-person school and people who were sick were told to isolate themselves. And their appeal to care for one’s neighbors led to more people coming in to get vaccinated, officials said.

TriCounty’s infectious disease specialist Cyndie Mattinson recalled a parent who told a school nurse she didn’t want to talk to the health department because “she was worried that we would be angry with her and be judgmental because her children were unvaccinated.”

The nurse vouched for the health department staff, and told the mom to let her know if she felt judged. Mattinson ultimately had a great conversation with the mother.

“The perceptions were changed that we weren’t out there to police, we were there to be a help and a resource to the community,” Mattinson said.

Health experts will meet to decide on US measles status

Utah’s lengthy battle with measles will likely affect whether the U.S. can keep its measles-free designation. Public health officials consider measles to be eliminated from a country when it shows it stopped continuous spread within local communities for at least a year.

The national measles case count was 2,104 as of June 18, nearly surpassing last year’s record total.

Utah has fought measles for a year, but it’s not clear if the earliest clusters are connected with the major outbreak on the Utah-Arizona state line, which was detected in August, Nolen said.

But since then, most of the state’s measles cases have come from within Utah, not from other parts of the country.

International health experts will gather in November to determine if the U.S. and Mexico have lost their measles elimination status. Canada lost its status last year after ongoing outbreaks.

In Utah, doctors continue to reassure scared patients and lobby for better public health policy.

Dr. Ellie Brownstein, president-elect of the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician in Salt Lake City, spent the height of the outbreak opposing a bill that would have made school vaccine waivers easier to get. It failed, but she says there hasn’t been a clear cultural reckoning over measles’ resurgence.

“I don’t know that we get it to end,” Brownstein said. “I don’t know that we’re going to get this genie back in the box because there’s enough people out there to spread it.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The affected product is Dunnes Stores Velvety & Mild French Brie, sold by Traditional Cheese Company.

The FSA (Food Standards Agency) said: “The presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the products listed above.

“Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea.

“However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis.

Friday 19 June 2026 – Traditional Cheese Company recalls French Bries because of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes – https://t.co/E690u4jiOi

These products were distributed in Northern Ireland only.#FoodAlert pic.twitter.com/30jLzuGjgO

— Food Standards Agency (@foodgov) June 19, 2026

“Some people are more vulnerable to listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.”

The company stated: “Traditional Cheese Company is recalling the above products. Point of sale notices will be displayed in all retail stores that are selling the products.

“These notices explain to customers why the products are being recalled and tell them what to do if they have bought the products.”

If you have bought any of the above products, do not eat them. Instead, return them to where you bought them from for a full refund.

What are product recalls and withdrawals?

If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be ‘withdrawn’ (taken off the shelves) or ‘recalled’ (when customers are asked to return the product).

The FSA issues Product Recall Information Notices to let consumers and local authorities know about problems associated with food. In some cases, a ‘Food Alert for Action’ is issued.

This provides local authorities with details of specific action to be taken on behalf of consumers.

What’s your favourite type of cheese? Let us know in the comments

Sir Bob Murray, the former Sunderland chairman, has supported the Bradley Lowery Foundation in building the purpose-built respite home in Scarborough, called Super Brad’s Pad.

The chairman of Omega Kitchens has donated a kitchen for the property, which is being built by the charity set up in memory of six-year-old Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery who died from a rare form of childhood cancer in 2017.

Bradley Lowery who died from a rare form of childhood cancer in 2017 aged six (Image: Bradley Lowery Foundation)

Bradley’s mother, Gemma Lowery, leads the foundation and has spent years raising almost £1 million to bring the project to life.

The facility is due to open this summer and is designed to provide families with a peaceful and private place to spend time together away from hospitals and treatment environments.

Sir Bob has called on businesses and the wider football community to help complete the final stages of the home.

Sir Bob Murray (Image: Foundation of Light)

“Gemma and the foundation have created something genuinely special that will help families at the moments they need it most,” he said.

“The finish line is now in sight and I hope people across football and the business community will help them complete it.

“Donating the kitchen was simply our family’s way of helping in a small way, but there are still opportunities for others to support the project and make a real difference.”

One of the Omega kitchens that has been donated to Super Brad’s Pad in Scarborough (Image: Bradley Lowery Foundation)

Ms Lowery said the facility will “help lots of families for many years to come and keep Bradley’s memory alive in the most positive way possible”.

“We wanted to create something that would help families make happy memories together during some of the hardest times in their lives because we know exactly what that feels like,” she said.

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“Nothing like this existed for Bradley and we know how much families need somewhere private, peaceful and safe where they can spend proper time together away from hospital wards.

“We wanted the home to feel bright and open because not every child is well enough to go outside.

“We thought carefully about every part of it and what families really need.

How Super Brad’s Pad in Scarborough could look (Image: Bradley Lowery Foundation)

“We hope this place helps other families create memories like that together.

“More than anything, we hope lots of the children who stay here go on to recover and look back on happy memories made with their families at Super Brad’s Pad.”

The foundation is seeking support to complete the final interior and outdoor spaces within the home, including commercial-grade furniture for bedrooms, family living spaces and outdoor areas.  For more information or to support the project, visit the Bradley Lowery Foundation website: https://bradleyloweryfoundation.com/holiday-home/

Mary-Margaret Humes played James Van Der Beek’s on-screen mother, Gail Leery, on iconic ’90s TV drama Dawson’s Creek and is still heatrbroken over his death five months ago

Dawson’s Creek star Mary-Margaret Humes has paid tribute to James Van Der Beek ahead of Father’s Day following his tragic death. Fans of the iconic TV drama will recall that Mary-Margaret, 72, played Gail Leery – the on-screen mother of James’s character, Dawson, on the smash hit show from 1998 to 2003.

In November 2024, James revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer 14 months prior – and tragically he died in February this year at the age of 48. He left behind wife of sixteen years, Kimberly, and their six children.

This Sunday will mark the first Father’s Day James’s family will experience since his tragic death. Taking to social media on Saturday, Mary-Margaret shared an image of herself with James and her on-screen husband John Wesley Shipp, who played Mitchell ‘Mitch’ Leery on the show.

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Referencing her on-screen son’s death, the American actress urged followers to embrace those closest to them as she contemplated the fragility of life. She wrote: “Wishing all of the amazing dads throughout this vast universe a Happy Father’s Day weekend.”

She continued: “My advice? Give big meaningful hugs and tell them you love them … a shout-out to simpler times with @vanderjames @johnwesleyshippjr.”

Fans of Dawson’s Creek were heartbroken five months ago when it was announced that James had died following his cancer diagnosis. His family announced the news in a social media post, writing at the time: “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning.”

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The statement continued: “He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”

Mary-Margaret was among those to take to social media to pay tribute to the actor. She wrote at the time: “Rarely am I at a loss for words … today would be the exception. James, my gracious warrior, you fought a hard battle against all odds with such quiet strength and dignity.”

She continued: “I will always love and admire you for that. Our last conversations, merely a few days ago, are forever sitting softly in my heart for safe keeping.”

And she added: “To our extended Dawson’s Creek family of friends … please be respectful of our silences at the moment as Beautiful Kimberly and family have asked for peaceful privacy for now.”

James is survived by his wife, Kimberly, 44, and their children Olivia, 15, Joshua, 14, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 10, Gwendolyn, eight, and Jeremiah, four.

Last month, Kimberly took to social media to express her continued heartbreak over her husband’s death. She wrote on Instagram: “Yesterday was three months since we lost @vanderjames. To say I’m heartbroken is a severe understatement.

“Words just don’t capture what grief is. The comforts of shock have worn off. The reality is settling in … and I miss him. We all miss him. Yet, there is a different kind of magic in the air. I feel him. I know him more deeply.”

Thanking fans for their support, the mum-of-six added: “The outpouring of support has been tremendous. It’s held our family in the most beautiful of ways.

“You all went absolutely above and beyond anything I could have ever expected in supporting us and honoring James. I am deeply grateful.”

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