THE HEADLINES AT 0800 ON WEDNESDAY 28th MARCH

It's eight o'clock on Wednesday the 28th of March.

Two new surveys have found more evidence that people in England and Wales are struggling to find NHS dentists.
The American Senate has defied President Bush - by voting for troops to be pulled out of Iraq by this time next year.
The government is facing strong opposition in the Commons and the Lords to its plan for seventeen new casinos.

DENTISTRY SURVEYS
Two separate surveys have painted a bleak picture of dentistry on the NHS, a year after a new contract for dentists was introduced. The reforms changed the way dentists were assessed and paid, but both patients and practitioners are complaining that the system still doesn't work. Citizens Advice has carried out an online survey, which suggests many people are simply going without treatment. The charity's Social Policy Officer, Liz Phelps, explained the findings:

PHELPS ACT: People are making huge changes still to find a dentist, some cases one hundred and twenty round trip. Other people are being pushed into private dentistry when they really can't afford it. And in our survey of over four thousand people who were looking for dentists two thirds of them ended up going without. It depends very much on where you live. In some parts of the country you can be spoilt for choice for example in Hartlepool and Hornchurch -- but in other parts of the country, there is just nothing.

BDA SURVEY
The British Dental Association has carried out its own survey, which suggests that the vast majority of dentists don't think the contract has achieved its aims. From a sample of nearly four hundred practices, eighty-five percent didn't think patient access had been improved, and ninety-seven percent didn't feel they had been taken off a "treadmill" of work. The BDA'S chief executive Peter Ward told us that government targets and misplaced funding had caused the problems:

WARD ACT: The Primary Care Trusts, although they've been allocated money to buy more dentistry, are in a position where their own shortage of funds has prevented them using those moneys to buy dentistry. Instead they're being forced to use the money to fill gaps in their own funding. So consequently, although dentists want to treat patients, patients need care-- the primary care trusts have money. We're in the ridiculous situation where dentists are having to say 'well, actually that's it -- we can't do any more this year because there's no more money forthcoming from the primary care trust'.

SENATE VOTE
Senators in the United States have defied President Bush, and voted for a target date of next March for pulling US combat troops out of Iraq. Republicans tried in vain last night to remove the Democrats' withdrawal timetable from a bill to channel billions in extra funding for the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House said Mr Bush was "disappointed" by the outcome, and was ready to use his powers of veto to strike down the measure. Reporting from Washington, our correspondent, James Coomerasamy:

COOMARASAMY:This was an important and somewhat surprising victory for the Democrats in the latest Congressional skirmish over the war in Iraq. Two last-minute defections ensured they defeated a Republican attempt to amend a huge military spending bill, setting next March as a goal for US combat troops to leave Iraq. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York cautioned his party not to get carried away.

SCHUMER ACT: This is not one battle. It's a long-term campaign to persuade the president, to pressure the president to change course.

COOMARASAMY: But the battle lines are drawn and President Bush has made it clear he will veto any bill that places conditions on his military commanders. So for White House loyalists such as Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, his colleagues have picked a wrong and dangerous fight:

GRAHAM ACT: Whatever mistakes the Bush team have made -- and there are many -- the Congress is about to make the greatest mistake of all -- and that is to tell the enemy what they have to do to get us out of Iraq on their terms, not ours.

COOMARASAMY:.and while the building Congressional defiance of the White House at a time of war may add to the pressure on President Bush, it's also likely to reinforce his determination.

IRAQ
Dozens of people are reported to have been shot dead in a town in northwestern Iraq. Gunmen are said to have stormed a Sunni district in Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border, killing up to fifty people, in an apparent reprisal for bomb attacks in a Shi'ite area. The victims are all understood to have been shot in the head.

SUPER CASINO VOTE
Government plans for a super casino in Machester and sixteen smaller casinos across Britain will face strong opposition in Parliament today. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say they will join Labour rebels and vote against the proposals. From Westminster, Sean Curran reports:

CURRAN: More than a hundred MPs have signed a Commons motion expressing regret at Blackpool's failure and calling for a Government re-think. Both the Commons and the Lords will now be given the chance to accept or reject all seventeen casinos but they will not be able to change the proposals. This has frustrated supporters of Blackpool's bid who had hoped the Government would offer two votes. One on the super casino decision and the other on the 16 smaller casinos. The Government also faces a revolt in the Lords, where the Church of England bishops who have argued that the new casinos will increase addiction to gambling. In spite of this, Government sources say they expect the orders approving the casinos to be passed by both Houses of Parliament.

CASINO PROTEST
The protest motion on casinos was tabled by Joan Humble, the Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood. Speaking on this programme, she refused to be drawn on the possible scale of any rebellion:

HUMBLE ACT: It's always difficult to estimate how much of that concern will translate into either a vote against, or abstention. But the government should be aware that what we want is an opportunity for Blackpool's bid to be properly considered. We want fairness in this.

IRAN
The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, has cut short a visit to Turkey - so she can make a statement in the Commons this afternoon about the continued detention of 15 Royal Navy personnel in Iran. The government is preparing to release evidence - including photographs - in support of its assertion that the sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters when they were captured. Here's our diplomatic correspondent, Bridget Kendall:

KENDALL: Margaret Beckett said she decided to return to London after her phone call to the Iranian foreign minister yesterday made no progress. She demanded the swift and safe return of the captives and for Iran to give British diplomats immediate access to them. Yesterday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said that contact would be granted once the initial investigation was over. But it's not clear when that might be and Teheran hasn't even confirmed where it's holding them. What today's Commons statement might contain isn't yet clear. But officials say Tony Blair's warning that the crisis could soon move to a 'different phase' means going public with data and argument currently being presented in private --- in other words, releasing coordinates and possibly photos to back up British claims the captives were seized in Iraqi, not Iranian waters.

PHILIPPINES
Two gunmen are holding more than thirty young children and two teachers hostage on a bus in the Philippines. Reports say the men seized control of the bus in the capital, Manila, in a protest about the lack of education for poor children.

XMAS CLUBS
A new scheme to protect the customers of Christmas savings clubs is to be announced today. Last year, a hundred thousand people lost money they had set aside for Christmas when Farepak collapsed. Our business correspondent, Nils Blythe, has more details:

BLYTHE: Savers lost an estimated forty million pounds in the collapse of the Farepak Christmas Club. The money intended to provide hampers or vouchers for club members at Christmas was used for other purposes within the company which owned Farepak. Today the Government will unveil a plan for Christmas savings clubs to try to ensure that in future money is ring-fenced for savers. It has the backing of Park group - the biggest remaining Christmas club operator. Former savers at Farepak are likely to get back three or four pence for every pound lost from the administrators later this year. The official investigation into what went on at Farepak and its parent company could last into next year.

VISAS
The government is to raise the minimum age at which people from outside the European Union will be allowed to enter Britain to get married. It'll go up from eighteen to twenty-one, Gillian Hargreaves reports:

HARGREAVES: About fifteen thousand British people marry foreign nationals from outside the European Union, each year. The largest number of visa requests come form the Indian subcontinent. By raising the age limit to twenty one it'll mean that about three thousand people a year, will be prevented from coming to the UK. The government also intends to introduce confidential interviews for people entering the country to make sure they haven't been forced into marriage.The move is part of a package of measures to strengthen Britain's borders. There'll be an overhaul of all visa categories -- and fingerprints will be taken when a visa to Britain is issued.

GUM ADVERT
An advertising campaign by Cadbury for a type of chewing gum has been criticised by the advertising watchdog for playing on Caribbean stereotypes. The Advertising Standards Authority received five hundred and nineteen complaints about the commercials for Trident Gum. Our media correspondent, Torin Douglas reports:

DOUGLAS: Two TV commercials and one for cinemas showed a black man speaking in rhyme with a strong Caribbean accent and shouting the catch line 'mastercation for the nation'. Other commercials showed a white man also speaking in Caribbean accents. More the five hundred viewers complained that the commercials showed offensive stereotypes and ridiculed black or Caribbean people. Cadbury said the ads were meant to show a 'tongue in cheek revolution', and used dubbed poetry -- part of Caribbean culture -- to spread the word. It had consulted the African Caribbean community, and the scripts had been cleared by the broadcaster's watchdog. But the Advertising Standards Authority said the stereotype had unintentionally caused deep offence to a significant minority of viewers.