mission

The fact quarterback Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo High signed with Ohio State is impressive enough. Then look at his 2025 statistics and you begin to realize he’s going to be next in line to continue Southern California’s success in developing top quarterbacks.

Over 11 games, he only had three passes intercepted while completing 71% of his passes. He threw for 3,199 yards and 25 touchdowns. He ran for six touchdowns. He had a school-record 569 yards passing against Los Alamitos. He made a clutch touchdown pass in the second half to beat eventual Southern Section Division 1 champion Santa Margarita 7-6 in the season opener.

He clearly performed at his best when the pressure was on and Mission Viejo needed him to lift up his teammates.

“He’s the best leader I’ve had in 25 years of coaching. He’s the total package,” coach Chad Johnson said.

Fahey has been selected The Times’ back of the year.

Before this season, he was sharing time at quarterback, showing incredible unselfishness while putting his trust in the process that everything would work out when it was his time to be the full-time starter. And it did.

“He’s always been real good,” Johnson said. “He was sharing reps and didn’t allow everyone to see his greatness and what he could be. Ohio State saw it. It’s going to be crazy what he can do at the next level.”

There’s one memory Johnson won’t soon forget. It was in the visiting locker room after a game at St. Paul. Fahey stayed behind as the last person to pick up trash to leave the locker room clean. Then he headed to the bus. Only the head coach saw it. The best player on the team doing work others ignored.

“Remarkable,” Johnson said.

Dec. 10 (UPI) — The United States late Wednesday called on Yemen-based Houthis to release all current and former staff the rebels have kidnapped, amid ongoing legal proceedings alleging international spy cells operating in the Middle Eastern country under the cover of humanitarian aid.

It was unclear how many current and former staff, all Yemeni nationals, of the U.S. Mission to Yemen were in Houthi custody. The United Nations has said 59 of its staff and dozens of diplomatic mission, NGO and civil society personnel have been detained by the Iran-proxy militia.

“The Iran-backed Houthis, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, have intensified their campaign of intimidation and abuse against Yemeni citizens affiliated with international organizations and foreign governments,” State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in a statement.

“The Houthis’ arrests of those staff, and the sham proceedings that have been brought against them, are further evidence that the Houthis rely on the use of terror against their own people as a way to stay in power.

“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Mission staff.”

The Houthis have detained and are trying the workers they allege are members of foreign espionage cells linked to United States, Britain, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Late last month the Houthi-controlled Foreign Ministry warned the United States against interfering in its judicial independence, saying it only confirms Washington’s involvement in espionage against them.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “gravely concerned” about the arbitrary detention of his 59 personnel and the dozens of others in Houthi captivity and condemns their referral to a special criminal court.

Some of the U.N. personnel have been held by the Houthis for years without any due process and in violation of international law, he said, adding that they are immune from legal process for all acts performed in their official capacity.

In late August, 11 U.N. employees were abducted by Houthi-controlled authorities after they raided World Food Program facilities in the capital Sanaa. The raid followed Israeli airstrikes that killed the Houthis’ prime minister, Ahmed al-Wawai, along with several other ministers.

Hans Grundberg, U.N. special envoy for Yemen, said then that there were 23 U.N. workers in Houthi captivity.

On Tuesday, Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said one of his colleagues who has been detained by the Houthis since November 2021 has been presented before the Special Criminal Court on “fabricated charges of espionage connected to his work.”

“This is totally unacceptable and a grave human rights violation,” he said.

“Our colleagues, along with dozens of other U.N. and humanitarian staff, have been detained while bravely carrying out their work assisting the people of Yemen, and held in intolerable conditions ever since,” he said in a statement.

The U.N., he said, has received reports that numerous detained staff have been mistreated.

“Their suffering, and that of their families, has gone on far too long,” he said. “Their safety and well-being are at grave risk.”

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. secretary-general, told reporters during a Tuesday press conference that they have not been able to speak with any of their detained staff but are in constant communication with the Houthis trying to secure their release.

“We don’t want them to be in this court, and we want them to be released,” he said.

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen said Wednesday that the “sham trials” are evidence of the Houthis’ weakness.

“The Houthis continue to use intimidation to distract from their inability to govern legitimately,” it said on X.

“We call for the immediate release of these unjustly held Yemeni citizens, so that they can return to their families after years of illegal detention.”

The U.N., along with humanitarian and non-governmental organizations, operate in Yemen as its 12-year civil war between the Houthi militants and the internationally recognized Yemeni government has made it one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The ITV News journalist has opened up about the ‘agonising’ trip she made following the death of her husband, who passed away in 2022

ITV News Arts Editor Nina Nannar has shared her heartache following the death of her husband. Her partner of 23 years passed away due to complications from kidney disease in 2022, leaving behind their 19-year-old daughter Mimi.

In a recent heartfelt interview, Nina spoke about her “agonising” journey to New Zealand to scatter the ashes of her late husband, Steve Ronson.

The 57-year-old told Norfolk magazine that she had been planning and “dreading” this trip for over a year as it was a “heartbreaking mission”.

She intended to return Steve’s ashes to his homeland of New Zealand but confessed she wasn’t emotionally prepared.

The broadcaster admitted to sleepless nights worrying about whether she could manage her grief and not “be embarrassing” in front of his friends.

Nina confided in the publication: “Even though Steve has been gone three years, the sorrow I feel over his loss still manages to cripple me in unexpected moments, of leaving me still in despair and disbelief that he is no longer here.”

She expressed gratitude towards her friends for supporting her “through my irrational moments” and “times of agony”, reports the Express.

Nina added: “My grief is raw, but this trip Mimi and I made did help us in a huge way.” During their visit to New Zealand, Nina and Mimi joined Steve’s friends at his favourite surf beach where they sang their “family anthem”, Return Of The Grievous Angel.

They also congregated at a beach on the Coramandel Peninsula, where Nina captured a video and sent it to his sister, Chris.

She asked Nina if she had spotted an orb of green light traversing the video, which Nina hoped was a sign from Steve.

Kidney Research UK reported that Steve was born with reflux, a condition affecting a valve in the ureter, causing urine to flow in the wrong direction, from the bladder back into the kidney.

He endured three and a half years on dialysis before receiving a kidney transplant that lasted for 30 years. In 2021, he underwent surgery to remove a lump, but doctors found cancer cells.

A year later, the cancer cells had spread, leading to the removal of Steve’s ear the day after his 60th birthday. Tragically, he passed away in 2022, surrounded by his loved ones.