News stories from Sunday March 22, 1981

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Gains in the fight against inflation will be apparent late this year, Paul Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, predicted. It will then become progressively easier to cut the inflation rate further, he said in a television interview. Commenting on the Reagan economic program, he said it was probably too much to expect that the administration could meet its target of holding the rise of consumer prices to 8.3 percent next year following the 11.1 percent it has forecast for this year. "If I think of a basic inflation rate of about 10 percent, I think 3 percent down would a highly optimistic projection," he said. [New York Times] Resumption of the coal contract talks was near, the president of the United Mine Workers, Sam Church, said, and he summoned the union's bargaining council to Washington. Officials of the union have said that a strike by its 160,000 members was inevitable when their contract expires Friday morning. "Hopefully, we'll be at the table in the next 24 hours, Mr. Church said in a television interview. [New York Times] Vietnam combat veterans need help, according to the government's principal study of the war impact, which says that these veterans have "significantly more" emotional, social educational and job-related problems than people who were not in battle. The $2 million, eight-year investigation for the Veterans Administration confirmed earlier studies that suggested that participation in the war had a direct relationship to alcoholism, drug use and stress-related cases. [New York Times] American female veterans of Vietnam, mostly members of the Army medical corps, are, like the American soldiers who served there, in need of delayed-stress therapy, which may be cut off by President Reagan's budget cuts. Since 1980, 91 storefront counseling centers have been established under the Veterans Administration's readjustment counseling program. The female veterans seeking aid from them, like the former soldiers who came for treatment when the centers first opened, are haunted by the war and have the sane feelings of depression, anxiety, guilt and alienation. [New York Times] Dwelling units increased in the United States at a rate more than double the population growth from 1970 to 1980, reflecting a significant decline in occupants per household, according to Census Bureau reports. There was a net gain of almost 20 million housing units in the decade, a rise of 28.5 percent, while the population increase was 11.4 percent, going to 226.5 million from 203.3 million. [New York Times] A stamp increase became effective. The 15-cent first-class stamp now costs 18 cents. Parcel post rates were up 13 percent, and the 10-cent postcard now costs 12 cents. [New York Times] Talks were suspended in Warsaw between the union leader Lech Walesa and Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Rakowski without any resolution of the crisis caused by a police attack on union members last week. The official press agency said the talks would resume on Wednesday. Mr. Walesa said that the top leaders of the union, known as Solidarity, would meet Monday to decide whether to call a national protest strike. [New York Times] Spain took new anti-terrorist measures following the assassinations of two colonels in northern Spain. There were indications that the Basque separatist organization E.T.A. was trying to provoke the military into attempting another coup. [New York Times] Western influence in Saudi Arabia and its impact on Islamic traditions is worrying the Saudis. The Western encroachment began with Saudi Arabia's industrial development made possible by its huge oil revenues and the help of foreign laborers and technicians. The Saudi boom has attracted 2.5 million foreigners, almost half of the total native population of 5.5 million. [New York Times]