A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2019
The World
AFGHANISTAN
At least 32 killed when
bus hits roadside bomb
A roadside bomb tore through
a bus in western Afghanistan on
Wednesday, killing at least 32
people, including children, a
provincial official said.
A spokesman for the police
chief in Farah province said the
explosion also wounded 15
people. Most of them were said to
be in critical condition.
The bus was traveling on a
main highway between the
western city of Herat and the
southern city of Kandahar.
No one asserted responsibility
for the blast, but the Taliban
operates in the region and
frequently uses roadside bombs
to target government officials
and security forces. The Islamic
State’s affiliate in Afghanistan
also is known to have been
behind attacks in the area.
The Taliban has kept up a
steady tempo of attacks even as it
has held several rounds of peace
talks with the United States.
— Associated PressUAE, Iran discuss maritime
security: For the first time in sixyears, officials from Iran and the
United Arab Emirates met in
Tehran to discuss maritime
security amid an increase in
tensions in the Persian Gulf, both
countries confirmed. This week’s
meeting was significant because
the UAE, a close ally of Iran’s top
rival Saudi Arabia, had
downgraded ties with Tehran in- Recent confrontations in
the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil
shipping corridor, and fears of a
wider conflict have prompted the
UAE to call for de-escalation and
diplomacy with Iran.
4 asphyxiated on way from siteof Brazil prison massacre: Four
inmates in northern Brazil were
suffocated to death while being
transported with others from a
prison where 58 people were
killed earlier in the week in an
orgy of gang-related bloodletting,
authorities said. Brazil has
struggled for years to contain
prison violence, with rival gangs
often vying for effective control of
the facilities. Authorities in the
state of Para said the four dead
inmates were believed to belong
to the same gang faction and had
fought side by side during the
Monday clash, in which over a
dozen people were decapitated.2nd person dies of Ebola in
major Congolese city: A second
person has died of Ebola in the
major Congolese crossroads city
of Goma, again raising fears that
the virus could spread beyond
borders as the outbreak enters a
second year. The man may never
have known he had Ebola and
was contagious for days before
the illness was confirmed,
officials said — alarming some in
the city of more than 2 million
people that lies along the border
with Rwanda. More than 1,
people have died in Congo’s Ebola
outbreak, nearly a third of them
children.Bangladesh hit hard by dengue
outbreak: Bangladesh is facing
its worst dengue fever outbreak
on record, with 61 out of 64
districts reporting cases by late
Tuesday. The government has
confirmed 15,369 cases of the
mosquito-borne viral infection
since Jan. 1. Of those, 9,
patients were diagnosed between
July 1 and July 30. About 4,
patients are undergoing hospital
treatment. There have been 14
deaths. While there is no specific
treatment for the illness, medical
care to maintain a person’s fluid
levels is seen as critical.
— From news servicesDIGESTBY RUTH EGLASH
PHOTOS BY CORINNA KERNtel aviv — It’s impossible to
remain apathetic toward Tel
Aviv’s “new” Central Bus Station, a
grimy, peeling concrete structure
that spans five blocks and reaches
seven stories in a run-down sec-
tion of this bustling city.
No longer new — it opened its
doors in 1993 — and certainly not
central, the bus station evokes
sharp responses from anyone who
steps inside. Some are fascinated
with the urban eyesore, while for
others, it instills fear after years of
violent crime marred its reputa-
tion.
Designed by renowned Israeli
architect Ram Karmi, the hulking
station, said to be the second larg-
est in the world, was envisioned as
housing an entire city under one
roof. But Karmi’s brutalist style,
with coarsely strewn stairwells,
mezzanine floors, winding walk-
ways, vast corridors and dark hid-
den spaces made the station im-
practical and impossible to navi-
gate almost from the start.
Twenty-six years later, its lega-
cy is as rough and as unwelcoming
as the abandoned stores and de-
serted floors inside it. Only a small
part of the station is used today for
daily travel, with most commuters
hurrying through, hoping to
spend as little time there as possi-
ble.
But the expansive space has
given rise to a cast of exotic char-
acters and myriad artistic initia-
tives that take advantage of the
unique charms of this gritty in-
terior.
The surrounding neighbor-
hood is populated by a mix of
African migrants, Filipino care
workers and longtime Israeli resi-
dents, all of whom mill about the
station’s ultracheap clothing
stores, bargain electronic outlets,
beauty salons and foreign food
markets.
Over the past five years, artists
have realized the benefits of this
unadorned space, brightening its
walls with graffiti on the seventh
floor or filling the abandoned
stores on the fifth with modern
installations. A Yiddish Cultural
Center and a bat colony also call
the station home.
Recently, a group of architec-
tural students opened an exhibi-
tion on the fourth floor that
reimagined the space, with ideas
including a basement swimming
pool and even an indoor athletic
field. Others, with less admiration
for the massive structure, contin-
ue to call for it to be torn down.
In the meantime, a local theater
group has adopted the bus station
for its site-specific and immersive
performances.
In “Seven,” an artistic interpre-
tation of the seven deadly sins, the
Mystorin Theatre Ensemble spot-
lights some of the station’s darkest
corners: a former waiting area it
has renamed “the red square,” the
oddly painted concrete staircase
and even the dreaded first floor,
with its abandoned movie theater,
stores, cafes and ticket booths.
“It’s an urban playground for
artists,” said actress and theater
manager Dana Forer. “For us, this
is an ideal space. We have seven
floors, and the people who come
here help turn our performance
into a world of fantasy and reality.”
[email protected]
Tel Aviv
bus station
is artists’
playground
The Central Bus Station in Tel
Aviv is a run-down, dirty, at
times frightening relic of the
early ’90s, optimistically
envisioned as a whole city
under one roof, complete with
a movie theater, top right. The
neighborhood is home to
many immigrants, and at left,
two girls from Eritrea play
outside the station. Merry
Christ Palacios, top left, of the
Philippines worships at the
church inside and finds good
buys in the few stores it has
left, but she says people
should be “very careful about
their bag, cellphone, money
and things.” For many artists,
though, it’s the grit that
fascinates. Dana Forer,
center, an actress and
manager of the Mystorin
Theatre Ensemble, performs
in “Seven,” a site-specific act
that uses all seven floors of
the station. “I feel full of joy
and creativity when we light
up the dark spaces with our
performance,” she said.