Did privatization contribute to the death of more than 200 passengers on a Korean air jet yesterday? When the jet crashed during a tropical downpour in Guam, the airport had neither a crucial landing system to help guide planes nor a government-staffed control tower. In fact, the Guam airport is the only U.S. airport with a tower operated by privately hired workers to direct 747s and other large passenger planes. Pilots were notified July 7 that the glide slope equipment at Guam would be down for maintenance until September 12. The transmitter, which shows a pilot how far he is from the ground, is one of two principal components of an instrument landing system. The use of contract towers dates from 1982, beginning as an outgrowth of the air traffic controllers’ strike that was bested by President Reagan, and later expanded as a cost-cutting move. Out of 684 towers nationwide, according to the FAA, 125 are staffed by privately employed air traffic controllers rather than by FAA controllers.

There’s no sign of a settlement in the UPS strike. No negotiations are scheduled as the close to 185,000 Teamsters’ strike enters a third day. The union says it makes sense to get back to the bargaining table, but the company says it’s made its final offer. Tensions have also grown on the picket lines. Police made at least nine strike-related arrests yesterday, bringing the walkout’s total to at least 31. One major sticking point in the dispute is a UPS proposal to withdraw from the Teamsters union-wide pension plan and take direct control of the retirement money. The Teamsters see the company’s move as an attempt to get control of any potential surplus for itself. The union says it should retain control where the members’ money is protected.

A Florida state appeals court yesterday ordered the release of internal tobacco industry documents that the state says shows cigarette makers lied to the public and conspired to cover up the risks of smoking. Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth said he hopes the documents say something about just how the industry was using lawyers to hide documents. In a related decision, a special master found the Tobacco Institute, the industry’s lobbying and public relations arm, also used attorneys to hide information on smoking’s dangers and industry plans to target young people. Florida wants to use the documents from the Liggett Group in its lawsuit seeking to recover the costs of treating six smokers on Medicaid. Jury selection for the trial began last Friday.

There will be no presidential apology for slavery, at least for now. The White House says President Clinton does not consider the proposal an appropriate first step for his national dialogue on race. The subject did not come up yesterday at Clinton’s meeting with the Black Leadership Forum, an umbrella group of the heads of Black organizations. The group’s president, the Reverend Joseph Lowery, says it isn’t interested in talking about an apology.

After nearly a decade of legal battles and a crucial change in court membership, the California state Supreme Court yesterday struck down a parental consent law for minors’ abortions, saying it violates young women’s right to privacy. Chief Justice Ronald George, in the 4-3 ruling, said the law denies a pregnant minor control over her own destiny. The ruling reversed a 1996 decision by the court that never became final. The law was originally to take effect in 1988 but was blocked by court order.

The prosecutor in the murder case of a Pakistani charged in a shooting spree outside CIA headquarters denied yesterday making ethnic insults, reports of which sparked anti-American protests in Pakistan. Remarks attributed to Robert Horan resulted in letters of protest by the Pakistani government and a condemnation by American officials in recent days. International news reports quoted Horan as saying poor Pakistanis “would sell their mothers” for less than the $2 million bounty that the United States had placed on fugitive shooting suspect Mir Aimal Kansi. Some reports quoted Horan as using the term “Pakis,” an ethnic slur. Horan denied the reports yesterday.

The Bolivian Congress voted overwhelmingly yesterday to make a retired general, Hugo Banzer, the next president, the last step before the former dictator’s inauguration today. General Banzer seized power in 1971 and presided over an authoritarian regime, until a coup in 1978 ousted him.

As President Clinton signed a financial aid package for the District of Columbia into law yesterday, several dozen community activists and clergy people intensified their protests that the plan undercut the city’s ability to govern itself. “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the out-of-control board has to go,” chanted about two dozen protesters who disrupted a meeting of the D.C. Financial Control Board shortly before the board announced the heads of the city’s nine largest agencies would not report to Mayor Marion Barry.