Entireworld, with its cozy, thoughtfully designed basics — think sweatshirts and sweatpants as well as underwear, T-shirts and socks — debuted as a direct-to-consumer brand about two years ago.

Since then, its founder, L.A.-based designer Scott Sternberg, has taken the Entireworld goods to traditional retail avenues — a pop-up shop with the furniture brand Design Within Reach last May and another in downtown L.A. in November.

And this week, Entireworld expanded its reach by bowing its men’s and women’s items at eight Nordstrom locations — the Grove in Los Angeles and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa as well as in New York, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, Chicago and Vancouver, British Columbia — and on shop.nordstrom.com.

Sternberg said it’s the brand’s most extensive wholesale partnership to date. Entireworld merchandise available at Nordstrom ranges from $15 to $135, and will be available through March 8.

The in-store collaboration with the Seattle-based retailer allows Sternberg to create an entire world for Entireworld, his latest fashion venture. (The designer founded the label Band of Outsiders in 2003 before splitting with it in 2015.)

“When Band [of Outsiders] was over and I was thinking about what I wanted to wear, I wanted to make sweatsuits,” he said by phone on Wednesday. “I wanted to do something incredibly pure, where color was the main design element. The aesthetics are so easy to understand in terms of shape and color. It works really well in a physical environment for that reason. It’s so tactile. Everything’s meant to be incredibly cozy and comfy. In that sense, it needs a physical environment to properly sell itself.”

And that’s where the fluorescent-lit geodesic domes and simple wooden-box shelves that are in select Nordstrom stores across the country come into play. The spaces give Entireworld fans a way to experience the brand away from the two-dimensional world of social media.

After all, as Sternberg sees it, these candy-hued pieces and plush items from Entireworld are best experienced in real life — and in real time.

One goal for the project, Sternberg said, was to create an “interesting visual space where people can feel like you’re somewhat speaking to them on a personal level. They’re going to geek out over that and post that.”

The Entireworld spaces are just the latest of the ongoing fashion series that is overseen by Sam Lobban, vice president of New Concepts for Nordstrom. (A recent venture allowed Lobban to collaborate with Chris Gibbs, owner of Union, which has stores in Los Angeles and Tokyo.)

“Scott’s unique ability to take familiar styles and make them feel fresh and exciting is super-relevant for Nordstrom customers,” Lobban said. “Maintaining the spirit of the brand visually and physically in-store was the best way for it to feel true to what he’s doing.”

Sternberg’s success lies in how he’s been able to imbue his work with emotion — to make clothing feel not like merely textiles on a hanger but symbols of a certain type of lifestyle — and Nordstrom, as a retail platform, is allowing him to push this idea further outward.

“Through New Concepts, we’re really excited to partner with brands or businesses that have an interesting story to tell,” Lobban said. “And Scott’s take on classic American sportswear, the visual references in the way he brings the brand to life, felt like a really good opportunity to show our customers something we thought they’d be excited by.”

With the collaboration with Union last year and now Entireworld, has Nordstrom caught the California bug that’s sweeping the fashion industry?

“SoCal aesthetics have been making a strong impression on fashion trends for a few years now,” Lobban said. “There’s a wider trend of people dressing more and more casually in a wider set of circumstances — outside of just lounging around the house at the weekend. And L.A. designers really nail cool laid-back style across a whole range of styles: rock ’n’ roll, streetwear, surf, West Coast preppy.”

Sternberg said while designing Band of Outsiders, the California influence was more purposeful. However, with Entireworld, it’s baked in by virtue of him being a longtime resident. “Good or bad, I’m never burdened by or led by what everybody else is up to,” he said. “I just want more people to catch our vibe.”

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We are honoured to be supporting two-time Golden Globe winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge of @bbcfleabag and Ralph & Russo’s charity auction to raise funds for the Australian bushfire relief. Worn at this year’s Golden Globes, the couture tuxedo from @ralphandrusso is up for auction on eBay. Proceeds are going to @wireswildliferescue, @redcrossau and @wildlifevictoria. We give thanks to everyone who has donated to the relief and recovery efforts so far. The response across the globe has been extraordinary. Open internationally and for serious bidders only. Link in bio. Swipe to watch a personal message from Phoebe. Image credit: @owarvega #bushfirerelief #bushfiresaustralia #dressforaus

A post shared by eBay.com.au (@ebayau) on Jan 9, 2020 at 4:03pm PST

According to the auction announcement, the made-to-measure tux from the Ralph & Russo fall and winter 2019 couture collection is closest to a U.S. size 10 and details include a silk duchess lapel and geometric black and gold ribbon appliqué. It also comes with a couple of things you wouldn’t have seen when Waller-Bridge took the stage on Sunday — her autograph (she signed the suit) and additional fabric (in the event the winning bidder wishes to make any modifications).

Although the label and the actress are based in the United Kingdom, Ralph & Russo’s namesakes — creative director Tamara Ralph and Chief Executive Officer Michael Russo — hail from the land down under.

“Being both from Australia originally and with much of our family still residents across the region, it is with a heavy heart that we watch and hear the news of the terrible fires currently engulfing such large areas of our homeland,” the two said in announcing the auction. “With Australia remaining so close to our hearts, we are delighted to stand next to Phoebe to support relief efforts with this special auction.”

In a comment accompanying the auction announcement, Waller-Bridge sold the rarity of the opportunity to purchase the suit in her signature style. “To add to its allure,” she said, “I spent most of the night brushing it past and rubbing it up against all the sparkly people I could find. These threads are laced with legends!”

The opening bid is $AU 77,000 (approximately $52,800 at current exchange rates) and includes global shipping and insurance fees, and all prospective bidders are required to register for pre-approval here. Proceeds from the winning bid will be equally divided among three charities: the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, the WIRES Wildlife Rescue Emergency Fund and Wildlife Victoria.

Waller-Bridge’s decision to auction her Golden Globes tuxedo isn’t the only effort currently underway to fight fire with fashion.

Also on Thursday, luxury label Balenciaga announced that on Monday it would release on balenciaga.com a unisex T-shirt and a hoodie featuring an image of an Australian koala, and 100% of the proceeds would be donated to a local conservation organization selected by its sustainability experts in coordination with parent company Kering Group.

The luxury conglomerate had announced Wednesday that its stable of brands, which includes Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Pomellato and Alexander McQueen among others, have banded together to make a joint donation of $1 million Australian dollars that would be earmarked for local conservation organizations.

It’s not too late to get those New Year’s wellness resolutions in motion. Here are some options:

About to open its doors is Aarmy in West Hollywood, a boot camp-style fitness studio designed to let clients feel “as if they are students in an elite athletic academy,” said Trey Laird, co-founder of the 8,000-square-foot facility scheduled to open Friday.

The pop-up — it will go till at least the end of the year while a permanent space is found — will be run by former SoulCycle instructor Angela Davis, who led classes attended by Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and former tennis pro Akin Akman.

“Angela and Akin have a truly athletic life, and our thinking was, ‘Why aren’t the powerful principles and opportunities that are reserved for elite academies or pro teams available to everyone?’” Laird said. “Everyone should be able to tap into their inner athlete.”

The boot camp classes are rooted in the origins of conditioning training, said Laird: quick drill movements and sprints as well as mat-based work for the lower body and indoor cycling for cardio. Laird said the classes were designed to meet various goals, whether weight loss, recovering from injury or training for a marathon.

Info: 8599 Santa Monica Blvd., $38 per class. Packages available. aarmy.com

::

New to the South Bay is RydeFYR, a heated indoor cycling studio where temperatures can stretch past 95 degrees.

“Working out in a heated room helps you to perform better,” said owner Chevy Laurent, a former SoulCycle instructor. “It burns more calories, torches more fat, improves skin and you learn to deal with mental challenges better.”

The 45-minute classes at the 38-bicycle studio, steps away from the beach, start with “Ignite,” which is done at comfortable room temperature — around 75 degrees. “Inferno” is a “30-minute quick burn in 95 degrees, where you just come in and get it done.” There are also combo spin and sculpt yoga classes.

“Every class should feel like a total body workout,” said Laurent, adding that working out in heat tends to burn 50 to 200 calories more than exercising in an air-conditioned room. “There’s an emotional component to it as well, beyond just feeling like you’re in a dance club.”

Info: 3308 Highland Ave, Manhattan Beach. First class $20; thereafter $30. Specials and packages available. rydefyr.com

::

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival in the U.S. of Indian spiritual leader Paramahansa Yogananda and the founding of his Self-Realization Fellowship. In commemoration, the nondenominational organization is holding guided meditations and screenings at four Southern Californian locations in mid-January.

“It’s interesting that the City of Angels was where he felt led to initiate and inaugurate his work,” said Sister Usha, a spiritual counselor with the fellowship founded by Yogananda, whose “Autobiography of a Yogi” was published in 1946. (He died in Los Angeles in 1952.)

“He spent his first few years in America back East and touring across the country. But when he came to Mount Washington, he felt something telling him that this was where he should create his international headquarters. We’ve been going strong ever since.” The meditations are designed for people of all beliefs.

“That’s what is so comfortable about his teachings,” said Sister Usha. “They are not dogmatic. What you are given are techniques of meditation that are scientific.”

Info: Various start times, depending upon events and locations, on Jan. 19. Lunch served. For details: Hollywood (hollywoodtemple.org), Glendale (glendaletemple.org), Pacific Palisades (lakeshrine.org) and Fullerton (fullertontemple.org). Free.

::

If the start of the year is already proving too taxing: The newly opened Canyon Ranch Woodside is holding a weekend retreat with a spiritual wellness expert that will include morning walks in the woods, fireside chats at night and homemade kombucha all day.

The “Biology of Brilliance” weekend is being led by Jonathan H. Ellerby, an author and wellness expert and will encompass bird-watching, hiking, circuit training and talks with titles like “Meet, Greet, and Delete: Letting Go of Limits and Preparing for a New View of Wellbeing.”

The Bay Area hotel, which officially opened in mid-November, is set up to act as a yearlong retreat; on-site facilities include VO2 Max testing (to test how much oxygen the body is using) as well as a Bod Pod, which determines body composition.

“People can come here for tangible wellness results by determining their baseline,” said Molly Anderson, vice president for experience development at Canyon Ranch Woodside. “We get them to ask themselves, ‘What is the intention of your retreat?’”

The nightly room rate includes three meals in the communal-style restaurant, which serves locally sourced foods and homemade granola, as well as all activities, classes, and yoga and meditation sessions.

Info: Prices start at $989 per person per night. canyonranch.com/woodside

“Wow — thank you so much, ma’am!” gushes a young parking attendant at the Jonathan Club in Santa Monica. “It made my day to see this car in person!”

That’s the contagious effect the all-new 2020 Corvette Stingray has on just about everyone. A toddler in a stroller pointed and squealed as I rolled by. A well-dressed businessman was studying the car with appreciation when I emerged from a store. “I’ve never been a Corvette guy, but I can actually see myself owning one of these,” he told me before jumping into his Audi R8.

Of course, $300,000-plus Lamborghinis and McLarens garner longing looks, but they don’t provoke the ear-to-ear grins that Chevy’s latest does. I have rarely seen a vehicle elicit so much joy, so consistently, as I did in the two days I had the eye-popping “Rapid Blue” version GM lent me for testing.

Chevy gave the world its first peek of the C8 (its internal name) last July, at an unveiling in a hangar in Tustin to a standing-room-only crowd of media, collectors and influencers. Chevy chose SoCal for the launch because it’s the most important market for the car — which is the first in the model’s 67-year history in which the engine sits behind, not in front of, the driver. At the event, journalists commented to me that it looked like a Ferrari, to which I replied, “Is looking like a Ferrari a bad thing?!”

Last month, I got the call: It was finally time to test-drive a pre-production version. When I slid behind the steering wheel, I entered a whole other world of aromatic leather, slick driver-centric controls and intuitive next-gen tech. I pushed the start button and the 6.2-liter V8’s 495 horses raucously screamed to life over my shoulder.

I headed to test-drive heaven — California 1. Almost immediately I was laughing at all the G-forces I could easily conjure with the steering wheel and my right foot. I played with the paddle shifters like a pinball machine (in automatic mode, the eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission is far faster than me—or you—but where’s the fun in that?).

From Malibu’s twistiest canyons to heavy 101 traffic, the Stingray ticked all the boxes. Cornering: tenacious grip without body roll. Steering: light and responsive. Brakes: grabbier than a pickpocket. Off-the-line acceleration: near-psychedelic pull with a dash of wheelspin, even with traction control on. Acceleration at speed: Just about terrifying, if it didn’t feel so darn capable and well-sorted.

I am not gushing. I’m merely reporting the delicious facts.

I am fortunate to have driven some of the best cars on the planet. So, when I say the new Vette exceeded my expectations, consider that a sizable understatement. And now perhaps the best news of all: The Corvette’s base price is $59,995. If you wanted to buy a midengine sports car with this level of capability from a European competitor, you’d have to spend five times as much, minimum.

GM has been producing competent Corvettes since the 1950s — two-seaters long on under-the-hood oomph but short on the kind of snob appeal that Aston Martins, Porsches and the like command. For all the performance prowess over time, there has always been some defensiveness on the part of Vette owners, who often cite one of the model’s best stats — its dollar-to-horsepower ratio. Those numbers are indeed impressive, but sports cars are about sex appeal; not every buyer sees the desirability of a lower sticker price over, say, Italian sheet metal.

Ironically, Corvette’s spiritual father and first chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, was himself European — Belgian-born and a successful endurance sports car racer. Duntov joined GM in 1953 after seeing the first Corvette concept earlier that year in New York City (constructed, under the skin, largely out of GM truck parts, including Chevy’s “Blue Flame” six-cylinder engine).

From the beginning, Duntov dreamed of a midengine version of the Corvette, where the engine’s weight would help to balance the car’s handling and allow for a clear view over a short hood. He constantly lobbied GM’s top brass to bring such a forward-leaning configuration to market.

But the costs and engineering required to shoehorn a powerful V8 engine into a small space without the benefit of a long hood were onerous. So were other technical challenges — cramped passenger space, little cargo room and no place to tuck a convertible roof, to name a few. Eventually, Duntov and his successors built several midengine concepts but never a production version.

Fast-forward to today. According to Tadge Juechter, Corvette’s chief engineer, his team had finally reached the limit of how much performance they could squeeze out of the Corvette’s front-engine architecture. Also, it was clear the car’s loyal buyers were aging. Those factors, along with huge strides in areas like materials science and production capabilities, gave Juechter and his team the moment they had been waiting for.

But would the car’s traditional owners feel abandoned? “On the marketing side, this was a huge endeavor. We did a heck of a lot of research,” says Steve Majoros, director of Chevrolet cars and crossovers marketing. “Could we retain loyalists and also attract new buyers who appreciate the configuration but who don’t have the best perception of the Corvette brand?”

Apparently, yes. “Die-hard Corvette fans didn’t believe that Chevy would really do it, but now that they’ve seen the car, no one is complaining,” says Mike Vietro, the founder of Corvette Mike, an Anaheim-based specialty sales, service and restoration shop that has been around for 38 years.

Think about it: a $60,000 midengine V8, capable of a sub-three-second zero-to-60 time, with the looks of a European exotic and the reliability and affordability of an American-made car. Against the odds, Chevy has managed to achieve the best of both worlds.

“The C8 demonstrates GM’s technical capability to run with the big boys in performance but at Chevy prices — one of the brand’s key philosophies,” says Don Runkle, former chief engineer for Chevrolet. “Another is a focus on racing. The new Vette epitomizes both.”

To that point, the C8’s track version, the C8.R, will make its endurance racing debut at the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 26. “With this new Corvette, there’s a direct linkage between the production-car and the racing programs,” says Majoros. “Working with the racing side is a great way to test new technologies that may find their way into production, and it’s also an internal training ground for engineering talent.”

From the epic expense of motorsports to the relatively low-volume nature of a sports car, it’s a small miracle, really, that the Corvette has survived at all, even putting aside where its pumping heart resides. Given economic downturns, gas price fluctuations, priority on new and greener powertrains, and the killing off of entire GM brands such as Pontiac, Saturn and Oldsmobile, the car‘s endurance is testament indeed to its accomplishments and fan base.

So thank you, Chevy, for finally doing what Duntov envisioned and for setting a new high-water mark for an irresistible, ultra-high-performance car that is also financially approachable as well as user-friendly. If that doesn’t have the Corvette’s far pricier competitors quaking, I’ll bet the sales numbers will. According to Chevy, already 45,000 consumers have preordered a car online; deliveries begin in February.

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2020 Chevrolet Stingray Coupe

Price: $59,995; $83,825 as tested

Engine: 6.2-liter V8

Horsepower: 490; 495 as tested with optional Z51 performance package

Torque: 465 lb.-ft. – 470 lb.-ft. as tested

0 to 60: 3 seconds; 2.8 seconds as tested

MONTREAL — 

Less than 24 hours after Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after takeoff in Iran, another passenger jet, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 241, arrived at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

It had 138 empty seats.

They belonged to the dead.

The majority of the 176 people who perished in the the Iran crash Wednesday had been planning to change planes in Kyiv on their way to Canada. They included at least five dozen Canadian citizens.

Among the victims were Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani, two engineers who had just gotten married in Iran and were on their way home to Canada.

Ghafouri-Azar “had just bought a house in Montreal,” said his former thesis advisor, Ali Dolatabadi, a professor at Concordia University. “They were going to invite us for a housewarming party this new year. He was very excited.”

Canada is in mourning. But it has also emerged as an important third player in the struggle between Iran and the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited “multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence” on Thursday to make the case that the plane was accidentally downed by an Iranian antiaircraft missile.

Canadians quickly compared the disaster to the 1985 Air India bombing off Ireland that killed 329 people, including 268 Canadians. But unlike that episode, which involved a Sikh separatist group with Canadian ties, the Ukraine International jetliner went down amid international tensions that did not involve Canada.

For days after last week’s killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani in a U.S. airstrike, Trudeau maintained a studied but awkward silence, wary of antagonizing President Trump but clearly uncomfortable with the American action.

Canada has no diplomatic delegation in Tehran but had been inching toward restoring relations. Canada’s foreign affairs minister, François-Philippe Champagne, in a call to Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, asked that Canadian officials be permitted to provide consular services, identify victims and play a role in what Trudeau said should be “a thorough investigation.”

Champagne added: “It’s more important than ever that we know exactly how such a tragedy could have happened. The families of the victims, and all Canadians, want answers. I want answers. That means closure, transparency, accountability and justice. This government will not rest until we get that.”

The prime minister sidestepped questions about whether the United States bore some indirect responsibility for the air tragedy because of its killing of Suleimani. But he acknowledged that Canada could not avoid that question indefinitely.

Jeremy Kinsman, a veteran Canadian diplomat who has served as ambassador to Britain, Russia and the European Union, described the country’s principal role as “victim.”

“We are roadkill here,” he said in an interview with The Times. “This was an excess of violence all around that went haywire and killed a bunch of innocent people.

“We happened to be in the way. Canadians will be struggling with this incalculable stupid human error for a long time. It is the ultimate in tragedy.”

It is felt most deeply in two communities: Canada’s 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent and its growing Iranian population, which is clustered in Ontario but also has a significant presence in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. Nearly 100,000 Iranians became permanent settlers in Canada from 2006 to 2015.

More than two dozen of the victims were from the Edmonton area, the center of an oil-rich region that has attracted Iranians since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The immigrants could have gone to the United States instead, but many regarded it as exceedingly unwelcome to people of Iranian descent after the seizure of 52 Americans in the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. They have been in the country for so long, and have integrated so intimately and succeeded so remarkably, that they are firmly established in the Canadian mainstream.

“Iran lost the cream of the crop when so many of its middle class chose to come here when there were so many opportunities when oil was booming,” said Daphne Gottlieb Taras, dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto’s Ryerson University. “Canada opened its doors to an Iranian diaspora and now, after this crash, you look at the families, the career aspirations, and you cannot wonder about the value of this group of people who came here from a disintegrating regime. It’s one of the finest examples of integration.”

Many of the non-Canadian victims were well-established academics, including professors at the University of Alberta and the University of Guelph in Ontario. Some were students. The number of study visas granted to Iranians has tripled from 2,960 in 2015 to 8,460 in 2019, and early reports suggested that the tragedy claimed the lives of those from 20 Canadian campuses.

“This is a moment of great anguish for us,” said Daniel Beland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “This country prides itself as being very open to foreign students. This is deeply felt far beyond the Iranian community.”

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Shribman is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Sarah Parvini in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

They met as graduate students in Montreal, drawn there by Concordia University’s well-regarded engineering program. They had both landed good jobs in the industry. They recently bought a house in Montreal. They had flown home to Iran for their wedding, attended by family.

“They were going to invite us for a housewarming party this new year,” said their friend, Ali Dolatabadi. “He was very excited.”

The couple, Siavash Ghafouri-Azar and Sara Mamani, was one of at least two pairs of newlyweds on board a Ukraine International Airlines jetliner when it went down shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s international airport early Wednesday, killing all 167 passengers and nine crew members.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that intelligence indicated Iran had shot down the plane — possibly by mistake. The Iranian government has denied bringing down the jetliner.

The flight was en route to Kyiv, Ukraine, and 63 Canadians were on board. Many were of Iranian descent.

Dolatabadi, a professor at Concordia University, was one of Ghafouri-Azar’s thesis supervisors while he was a student there.

Dolatabadi recalled his former student as a “very intelligent” and “very kind person” who always worked hard. He was humble, Dolatabadi added, and always polite.

“It was one of the main features of his character — extremely hardworking and very much liked by everyone,” he said. “Yesterday, I closed my eyes and I remembered his smile.”

Dolatabadi met Ghafouri-Azar through the younger man’s uncle, who is one of the professor’s closest friends.

The last time he saw Ghafouri-Azar was just before Christmas break. Dolatabadi usually offers chocolate to office visitors during the holidays, he said. Ghafouri-Azar told his former professor that he had missed that holiday treat from his student days and hoped to stop by and catch up.

Dolatabadi and others in his department at Concordia have organized a memorial for Ghafouri-Azar and Mamani, scheduled for Friday.

“We wanted to be together and share memories and share grief,” he said. “We wanted to have room to sit down together so people feel they are not alone grieving.”

Dolatabadi said about half of the graduate students were Iranian. “An extremely high number,” he said.

Students and researchers such as Ghafouri-Azar and Mamani have increasingly chosen to study in Canada because getting into the United States on a student visa has grown more difficult as the United States has tightened its restrictions on immigration, he added.

“Canada is more attractive to Iranians because they can stay there and become citizens,” he said. “If they go to the States, they have to leave or stay until they get a green card and can’t go back home.”

Ghafouri-Azar worked as a performance specialist at Pratt & Whitney, an American aerospace manufacturer. His wife worked at the Canadian transportation company Bombardier.

Dolatabadi said that he spoke Thursday with Ghafouri-Azar’s uncle, who said he was thinking of going to Iran.

“They’re looking for the remains, but they can’t find anything. That’s the sad part of it for the family,” Dolatabadi said. “It’s very tough.”

If an Iranian surface-to-air missile did take down the plane, he added, the crash would be even harder for the family to process.

“It’s very heartbreaking. I still can’t believe it,” he said. “I go back to look at his pictures; it’s very difficult.”

He added: “It’s hard to imagine losing someone like him. I really miss him, that’s all I can say. It feels good when I talk about him.”

Another pair of newlyweds, Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji, were on their way back to Canada after getting married in Iran on New Year’s Day.

“They were super peaceful together,” said Borna Ghotbi, their close friend and former classmate. “A really beautiful couple.”

As undergraduates at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, the couple studied computer engineering. They moved to Canada in 2017 as graduate students at the University of Alberta.

“We came to Canada on the same plane,” Ghotbi said.

One of his fondest memories with the pair was of leaving Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport.

“We immigrated, all three of us together, that was a special moment,”said Ghotbi, a researcher at Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Toronto. “When you stamp your passport and you’re officially out of the country, that was a really sensitive moment for all of us.”

Pourzarabi and Gorji made sure he didn’t feel alone. The trio laughed together as the plane headed for their new home, he recalled.

“I never felt homesick because of that,” he said. “I never felt like I was leaving home.”

He described Gorji, 25, as “light and cheerful and also sensitive to everyone and everything around her.”

Pourzarabi, 26, was protective, he added — not just of Gorji, but of everyone he loved.

“He had a pure heart,” Ghotbi said. “You could see strong determination in his eyes, always.”

He last saw Gorji about month ago, when she briefly came to Toronto for a conference for women in computer science. She was only there for a day, he said, but he wanted to make sure he saw his old friend.

He met her at the bus terminal as she headed back to the airport. The five minutes they’d shared made the trip worth it, he said, even if it wasn’t much time.

Not long after, a message from Gorji popped up on his phone. Seeing him made her feel at home, she wrote.

Researchers backed by the San Diego Zoo are scrambling to save koalas threatened by the rampaging brush fires in Australia.

Officials said a team working in the Blue Mountains — home to the most genetically diverse population of koalas in the world — was able to find and capture a dozen of the marsupials as the flames approached last month and moved them to a zoo in Sydney for safekeeping.

They’ll be returning to the area to search for injured animals and assess the habitat damage. San Diego Zoo Global officials said they are “committing resources to ensure that the population is recovered.” The cost of that effort, which is expected to take years, is not known.

Since the Australian fire season began in September, dozens of blazes have broken out, scorching more than 12 million acres. At least 24 people have died and hundreds of homes have been destroyed. By some estimates, hundreds of millions of animals have perished or been affected.

In the Blue Mountains, located in New South Wales, about 2.5 million acres were burned. The region was listed as a World Heritage site in 2000 because of its “significant natural resources,” including 96 different species of eucalyptus tree, which are both home and food for koalas.

Science for Wildlife, a Sydney-based nonprofit, has been studying the koalas in the Blue Mountains since 2014. Kellie Leigh, the executive director, has also been a researcher with San Diego Zoo Global since 2010. Her group sees the region as a potential refuge for koalas, which have seen their numbers drop from about 3 million to fewer than 300,000 across Australia. Before the fires, they were considered vulnerable to extinction, one step below endangered.

“We have been working in this area for many years now, tracking koalas to learn about them and to assess their population numbers,” Leigh said in a statement provided by the zoo. “The population of koalas in the Blue Mountains have high levels of genetic diversity. This makes this particular population very important for the survival of the species.”

Known for their tall trees and rugged terrain, the Blue Mountains make spotting koalas in the wild difficult. Researchers have tracked them with radio tags, which proved useful as the flames approached. Volunteers with Science for Wildlife located a dozen koalas during a mid-December rescue effort, and climbers went into the trees to capture them. They have been taken to the Taronga Zoo until the fire threat passes.

Leigh said more search-and-rescue efforts are planned. Volunteers will also be putting out water for wildlife. The long-term goal is to “re-wild the koalas that were rescued and recover the population in the region,” she said.

San Diego Zoo Global has launched a fundraising campaign to support the recovery of wildlife in Australia at EndExtinction.org. It will join other long-term projects the organization has backed over the years to help California condors, pandas, northern white rhinos and other species.

The zoo’s ties to Australia go back almost a century. Businessman John D. Spreckels funded an animal-collecting trip there in 1925. Tom Faulkner, the zoo’s director, loaded a ship with 200 animals from North and Central America to trade for specimens from zoos in Sydney and Melbourne.

It got off to a bad start. In San Francisco, where the ship was docked, the crew wasn’t ready. They thought the request to make room for zoo animals was a joke. Cages were stowed wherever there was room on the deck, and several birds and small animals died from exposure. A 12-foot alligator escaped briefly. A spider monkey reached into a wildcat’s cage to grab a piece of meat and had its arm bitten off.

Faulconer collected kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, dingos and emus, but he was stymied in his effort to get koalas. The Australian government had a ban on their exportation. At the last minute, a truck raced up with two of them: Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, named after characters in a popular Australian children’s book.

They would become the first koalas ever displayed in the U.S., making them among the zoo’s earliest attention-drawing, attendance-driving celebrities. Its current collection of about 20 koalas is the largest outside Australia, with another 30 on loan to other zoos in the United States and Europe.

Wilkens writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — 

Further deadlock and heightened pressure from China are the likely outcome if Taiwan’s independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen wins a second term this weekend, as is widely predicted.

Tsai, of the Democratic Progressive Party, was leading by a comfortable margin in most polls before the standard blackout period on surveys was imposed 10 days before Saturday’s election.

In a distribution center in Xindian district in New Taipei City on Friday, schoolteachers and other volunteers were busy preparing stacks of ballots and other election paraphernalia for distribution to the polling centers.

“We are here to maintain security and make sure no one smuggles out any printed ballot forms,” said Chu Kuo-hong, deputy chief of Xindian district police station.

Final campaign rallies for each candidate were scheduled for the evening in Taipei and in the southern city of Kaohsiung, where her chief opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the opposition Nationalist Party, is mayor. Another candidate, James Soong of the smaller People First Party, also planned a rally.

Tsai’s party lost badly in local elections 14 months ago. But she has received a boost from hostile words and actions from China and months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong which she says show Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for governing Taiwan is untenable.

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The island’s high-tech economy has also helped. Stock market prices have remained robust and wages risen slightly, partly thanks to Taiwanese exporters relocating from China to cut costs and avoid the bruising effects of the U.S.-China trade war.

Han Kuo-yu has slumped in the polls following a series of gaffes and allegations of shady financial dealings. He has clung to a pro-China policy despite widespread distrust of the mainland and the backlash against Beijing’s handling of the Hong Kong protests.

On Saturday, voters will also elect a 113-member legislature, where Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party currently has 68 seats. The Nationalists hold 35 seats with the rest taken by minor parties and independents.

Taiwan elections generally revolve around economic, public welfare and social justice issues, China’s threat to annex the island by force always looms large in the background.

Even more so this year.

China has taken an especially hard line against Tsai since her 2016 inauguration, infuriated by her refusal to endorse its claim that Taiwan and the mainland belong to a single China.

Beijing cut off all formal ties with her government, restricted visits by Chinese tourists, excluded Taiwan’s representatives from international gatherings and peeled away more of the island’s dwindling diplomatic allies, leaving it with just 15.

Stepping up its threats, Beijing has in recent months held military exercises across the Taiwan Strait, sailed both of its aircraft carriers through the waterway that divides Taiwan from the mainland and flown air patrols around the island.

However, in an apparent effort to avoid antagonizing voters, Chinese leader Xi Jinping didn’t renew the threat of using force against Taiwan during his annual New Year’s Eve address even though he reiterated China’s firm opposition to Taiwan’s formal independence. Chinese state media have been notably silent on the election campaign.

Analysts say the low-key approach masks a more subtle campaign to back Han and Nationalist candidates for the legislature through media manipulation and social media campaigns.

Seeking to scupper such attempts, the legislature last month passed an anti-infiltration bill laying out fines and prison sentences for those seeking to manipulate Taiwan’s political system on behalf of China or other foreign powers.

In comments to the international media on Thursday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Tsai’s government doesn’t plan to rock the boat with a formal declaration of independence.

“Maintaining the status quo is in the best interest of everyone concerned. We will not provoke any conflict with China, but we are absolutely determined to defend Taiwan’s democracy,” Wu said.

Here’s a look at what roughly $625,000 buys right now in Rancho Santa Margarita, Santa Ana and Mission Viejo in Orange County.

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA: A gazebo adjoins a swimming pool and spa behind this Mediterranean-style home with mountain views.

Address: 11 Via Becerra, Rancho Santa Margarita, 92688

Listed for: $610,000 for two bedrooms, two bathrooms in 993 square feet (3,750-square-foot lot)

Features: Open floor plan; travertine floors; vaulted ceilings; two-car garage

About the area: In the 92688 ZIP Code, based on 29 sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $775,000, up 7.6% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

SANTA ANA: A charming brick fireplace and breakfast nook with booth seating are a few highlights inside this single-story home built in 1925.

Address: 910 N. Flower St., Santa Ana, 92703

Listed for: $600,000 for three bedrooms, two bathrooms in 1,434 square feet (5,085-square-foot lot)

Features: Dual-pane windows; upgraded hardwood floors; kitchen with granite countertops; long driveway

About the area: In the 92703 ZIP Code, based on 11 sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $568,000, up 8.2% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MISSION VIEJO: Found in the California Colony community, this turnkey home boasts an expansive great room and a backyard with citrus trees.

Address: 28072 Ebson, Mission Viejo, 92692

Listed for: $625,000 for three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms in 1,191 square feet (3,300-square-foot lot)

Features: Charming exterior; cathedral ceilings; remodeled kitchen; custom brick fireplace

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About the area: In the 92692 ZIP Code, based on 39 sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $745,000, up 6.7% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA: Turf and drought-tolerant landscaping keep bills low for this two-story home with a new deck.

Address: 10 Via Ulmaria, Rancho Santa Margarita, 92688

Listed for: $656,900 for three bedrooms, three bathrooms in 1,299 square feet (3,750-square-foot lot)

Features: Front porch; living room with fireplace; high ceilings; landscaped front and back yards

About the area: In the 92688 ZIP Code, based on 29 sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $775,000, up 7.6% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

SANTA ANA: Zoned for mixed use, this 101-year-old property boasted four bedrooms before being converted into a law office with a lobby, conference room and receptionist space.

Address: 1502 N. Main St., Santa Ana, 92701

Listed for: $629,000 for four bedrooms, one bathroom in 1,990 square feet (7,733-square-foot lot)

Features: Gated lot; hardwood floors; solar panels; private parking lot

About the area: In the 92701 ZIP Code, based on nine sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $600,000, up 14.8% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

MISSION VIEJO: A wraparound patio rings this turnkey home on a private hillside lot overlooking the rest of the neighborhood.

Address: 28291 Alava, Mission Viejo, 92692

Listed for: $634,888 for two bedrooms, three bathrooms in 1,818 square feet (3,478-square-foot lot)

Features: Carpeted floors; lofted office; expansive master suite; trellis-topped patio

About the area: In the 92692 ZIP Code, based on 39 sales, the median price for single-family homes in November was $745,000, up 6.7% year over year, according to CoreLogic.

Having joined from Salzburg at the start of the January transfer window, the teenage forward is being tipped for big things in the Bundesliga

Marco Reus has lavished praise on his new Borussia Dortmund team-mate Erling Braut Haaland and is convinced that the club has not had a player like him since Robert Lewandowski.

Dortmund saw off competition from a host of major European clubs to land the young Norway striker, who joined at the start of this month after his €20 million (£17m/$22m) move was confirmed in December.

Haaland emerged as one of Europe’s most sought-after players after starring for Salzburg, scoring 28 goals in 22 matches this season.

Manchester United, Juventus and RB Leipzig were among the clubs who showed an interest in the 19-year-old before BVB secured his signature.

And while Reus says the teenager must be given time to settle in, he is adamant that he has not seen a forward of Haaland’s ilk at the club since Lewandowski left for Bayern Munich in 2014.

“He’s very open-minded and it’s important to get to know everyone first – a training camp like this is ideal,” Reus told Sky Deutschland during Dortmund’s mid-season break in Marbella.

“Now it’s about getting really fit, arriving properly. It will take time, we’ll give it to him. He just gives us another input, another way we can play.

“I don’t think we have had this type of player since Lewy [Lewandowski]. He gives us the opportunity to be more flexible and able to react to different scores.

“It makes us feel good. Now he has to get well and get to know everyone properly – we have to, too. We have to go with him and his strengths, but that will all happen over time.

“Paco [Alcacer] really boomed at the beginning, then he was injured longer. Then the coach decided differently.

“As I said, Haaland gives us many opportunities to play football, but ultimately the coach has to decide who will be used.

“For me and other players, we have new options with Haaland, sometimes long balls. In football it’s important to be flexible and we have achieved that.

“We have now got a very good striker and with it new options, so we’re well positioned.”

A common criticism of Dortmund in recent years has been the perceived lack of bite in the team, that they are too nice – but Reus does not agree, insisting having “an absolute b*****d” in the team is not necessary.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said when asked if Dortmund were missing a “dirtbag” player. “We had the discussion last year, too.

“The squad is put together in the way that the responsible persons had imagined it, how the coach imagined it. We have enough quality in the squad.

“We don’t need someone who’s an absolute b*****d. We’ll solve it our way, even if it’s not always right.

“So, we don’t have to worry about it. We’ll have to improve our games, we know that, but we don’t necessarily need a ‘dirtbag’ for that.”

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