As it happened: July - December

JULY

* At Wimbledon Pete Sampras won his sixth men's singles title, the most by anyone this century.

* The United States confirmed its free-trade doctrine applied only to others, slapping heavy tariffs on New Zealand and Australian lamb.

* Shell and BP increased their pump prices by 3c a litre, the biggest rise in a decade - little did we know what was to come. Shell led the way two weeks later with another 3c rise.

* The Indonesian Democracy Party-Struggle of Megawati Sukarnoputri gained the biggest slice of the vote in Indonesian elections, 33.7 per cent, but the battle for the presidency was by no means over.

* The death of another Kennedy, this time JFK junior with his wife and her sister in the light plane he was piloting, revisited the family curse and, given the reaction, offered plenty of questions about the power of a name.

* The Samoan Public Works Minister, Luagalau Levaula Kamu, was shot dead during a campaign rally in Apia.

* A Scot, Paul Lawrie, won the British golf open at Carnoustie in Scotland after being 10 shots down on the final morning. But it was the nightmare of Frenchman Jean Van de Velde on the last hole, with the luxury of needing six to win, that left an indelible mark on the event. He took seven, and lost in the playoff.

* Saga of high spending in the civil service continued with the chief executive of Work and Income under scrutiny over chartered planes and staff training costs.

* Mike Moore got the first three years of a World Trade Organisation term in a deal with his Thai rival for the job.

* Auckland unveiled another roading plan: a second harbour bridge beside the first and a tunnel under Herne Bay and Grey Lynn.

* Triumph at Lords: the New Zealand cricketers recorded their first test win over England at the home of the great game.

* An adventure holiday turned tragic in the Swiss Alps after a flash flood hit a group canyoning in the Saxetenbach Gorge, killing 21 people, including two New Zealanders.

* Parliament voted to allow the drinking age to be dropped from 20 to 18 and extended liquor sales to Sundays, including supermarkets.

* Eldest son of Women's Affairs Minister, Leafa Vitale, and slain Samoan minister's immediate predecessor, Toi Aukuso, charged with his murder.

AUGUST

* Train crash 500km north of Calcutta claimed more than 500 lives.

* A fund to help Invercargill's Lawton family after John Lawton testified against a gang member reached $200,000.

* Boris Yeltsin sacked yet another Prime Minister, replacing Sergei Stepashin with Vladimir Putin, the chief of the security police. Russia's Dagestan republic declared itself an independent state.

* IBM walked away from the half-finished police computer system.

* Mobil added another 3c to the petrol price - 9c rise in a month.

* Are we maturing? Interest in Theresa Gattung's appointment to head Telecom focused not on her gender but her age: she is 37.

* The earthquakes got worse. Thousands died when a 6.7 quake hit Turkey, centred about 90km south-east of Istanbul.

* High Court judges ruled that the Winebox inquiry head, Sir Ronald Davison, got tax law wrong.

* New Zealand cricketers celebrated a series win in England. Coach Steve Rixon went out in style. The English, however, turned their brutal attention to "the worst test team in the world."

* Crash on the Victoria Park flyover brought Auckland to a halt.

* Rob Waddell did it again, retaining his single sculls title at the world rowing championships in Canada in style, setting a world's best time.

* A sign of gloom to come for New Zealand rugby supporters. The All Blacks lost 7-28 to the Wallabies at Stadium Australia (the worst test defeat in their history). They missed out on the Bledisloe Cup but still won the Tri-Nations series with enough points from earlier wins.

* A peaceful interlude for East Timorese. They went to vote for independence on a day of calm.

* The country's mental health practices once again came under scrutiny as a psychiatric patient living in the community stabbed his flatmate, Malcolm Beggs, to death.

SEPTEMBER

* The calm of the referendum day was over. More than 78 per cent said they wanted independence and militia went on the rampage in East Timor. Jakarta imposed martial law on the territory, which made little difference to the shooting, burning and looting.

* Apec leaders came to town - most of them. Absentees included Indonesia's Habibie and Malaysia's perennial stayaway, Mahathir. Auckland shut down. East Timor dominated the gathering if not the agenda, Bill Clinton wowed them all and the leaders' polo-shirt-with-yachting-jacket outfits were a hit. But did anything actually happen? Did it matter? It left a certain "feel-good" taste in its wake. We could do with more of it.

* Christchurch was not so lucky. Keeping protesters out of sight of the Chinese President meant Jiang Zemin was late for dinner and the police got caught in the middle.

* Pressure finally told on the Indonesian Goverment and Jakarta gave the go-ahead for deployment of a United Nations force to restore peace in East Timor. New Zealand's contribution of men and machinery placed the spotlight on the ability of the armed forces to function when needed.

* The chief executive of the Lotteries Commission, David Bale, resigned in the wake of criticism of his $400,000-plus salary.

* Brierley Investments announced its departure to Singapore and Bermuda.

* Scott Watson was found guilty of the murders of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart after the jury had deliberated for 22 hours following a 13-week trial. But it was a reminder that Kirsty Bentley's killer had not been found.

* Bombs killed more than 200 people in attacks on residential areas in Moscow.

* TV3 took over free-to-air rugby coverage as TVNZ cooperation with Sky came to a halt.

* Athens and Taipei became the latest cities to suffer the effects of big earthquakes with thousands dying in the biggest quake to hit Taiwan this century.

* Americans came back from the death for a remarkable win over Europe in golf's Ryder Cup but in triumph demonstrated that the sport lauded for its etiquette can be as ugly as any other.

* The oil price rise was not over: Shell raised its prices a further 3c, the fifth rise in less than three months.

OCTOBER

* Japan experienced its worst nuclear accident when an error in uranium handling fed a chain reaction that sent radiation levels at the plant 140 km north-east of Tokyo to 15,000 times normal.

* More than 100,000 fled airstrikes and ground attacks against Chechnya by Russian forces seeking Muslim guerrillas accused of masterminding the bombings of apartment blocks in Russia.

* The Silver Ferns blew a six-point lead, handing the world netball championship to their old nemesis, Australia.

* Thirty London commuters were killed when two trains collided near Paddington station.

* The All Blacks came to grief against France in the rugby World Cup; after nearly five years of waiting the America's Cup challengers finally got out on the water.

* Hannahs, synonymous with New Zealand shoe retailing, took its first step into the Australian market.

* Russian troops blocked refugees from fleeing the fighting in Chechnya.

* Gunmen broke into the Armenian Parliament, killed eight people including the Prime Minister, Vazgen Sarkisian, and took other deputies hostage before surrendering after a night-long stand-off.

* "The cyclone of the century" ravaged the east coast of India, bringing death, destruction and misery to Orissa and West Bengal.

* EgyptAir Flight 990 dived into the sea off Massachusetts, killing all 217 people on board - was it a suicide crash?

NOVEMBER

* The Auckland City Council terminated the Britomart contract on the grounds that the financier and developer had missed three deadlines to agree to the terms of resource consents.

* A lumbering Englishman outpointed an ageing American to unify the world heavyweight boxing titles; master trainer Bart Cummings claimed his 11th Melbourne Cup with Rogan Josh; and John Hart resigned as All Black coach. But by the end of the month in one weekend Michael Campbell (Johnny Walker Classic in Taiwan), Greg Murphy and Steve Richards (Bathurst 1000) and the Black Caps (one-day win over India) had brought some balance to the sporting equilibrium. Barbara Kendall later successfully defended her world board-sailing title.

* Don McKinnon was appointed SecretaryGeneral of the Commonwealth.

* With all the monarchists and many republicans resisting the idea of a Parliament-elected head of state, Australians voted against dispensing with the monarchy.

* An American court decision ruled that Microsoft wielded monopoly power in personal computer operating systems.

* Germany celebrated 10 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

* The death toll from the Indian cyclone was expected to climb past 10,000.

* Aceh province increased pressure to be allowed to follow East Timor into independence from Indonesia.

* Brierley Investments got the votes to relocate to Singapore and Bermuda despite the resistance of New Zealand shareholders.

* Sydney Olympics organisers were under fire for secretly allocating hundreds of thousands of seats for the rich and famous at home and abroad.

* Turkey was hit by its second earthquake in three months, devastating Bolu province.

* Queenstown and Alexandra were engulfed by flood waters.

* In the shadow of the election the Prime Minister sacked the Immigration Minister, Tuariki Delamere, over a deal with Taiwanese immigrants.

* Petrol prices were on the rise again.

* Lingerie company Bendon closed its doors.

* Scott Watson was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Olivia Hope and Ben Smart with a non-parole period of 17 years.

* A step in the right direction in Northern Ireland as the Ulster Unionists agreed to join a cabinet including Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.

* In an election-night result made tense by the slow delivery of results and the disproportionate influence of a couple of close electoral contests, Labour and the Alliance won sufficient party votes to form a new Government. Simultaneous heavy voting in favour of fewer MPs and harsher sentences raised as many questions about policy-by-referendum as it did about the questions at issue.

* Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad maintained his dominance as the country's leader but the Opposition doubled its seats, in the process defeating four cabinet ministers.

DECEMBER

* Protesters against trade liberalisation turned the streets of Seattle into a battleground during violent confrontations with police as World Trade Organisation ministers failed to set an agenda for negotiations aimed at reducing trade barriers.

* Russia decided to carry out its intention to batter the Chechen capital Grozny into submission, despite international condemnation.

* The Middle East future looked brighter. Israel and Syria got that special seal of approval in their search for peaceful relations, a joint meeting of their representatives at the White House under the American President's watchful eye.

* The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, survived a bombing assassination attempt in Colombo on the eve of the country's presidential poll.

* In more peaceful manner, China took over the second of the three provinces Beijing has in its sights as Macau was transferred from Portuguese rule. First Hong Kong, now just Taiwan to go.

* Nature continued on its disruptive way. Tens of thousands of Venezuelans died and more than 200,000 were left homeless as torrential rains triggered floods and landslides along the Caribbean coast of the South American country.

* At home, special votes in the Coromandel electorate gave the seat to Jeanette Fitzsimons and nationwide tipped the Greens over the 5 per cent threshold into seven seats in Parliament. Winston Peters managed to hang on to Tauranga. It all added up to a minority Government headache for Labour and the Alliance.

* Sweetwaters festival had its sequel; promoter Daniel Keighley pleaded guilty to five counts of forgery.

* It was a busy month on the sports scene. The New York Yacht Club was the first notable departure from the America's Cup regatta. Its Young America failed to do enough to make the challengers' semifinals. Wayne Smith got the country's top job (no matter what business leaders and politicians might think) to coach the All Blacks with assistance from Tony Gilbert. Leilani Joyce followed Susan Devoy into the British Squash Open's history books while at home the Black Caps turned certain defeat into a convincing triumph over the West Indies in the first test of the summer.

* While the Y2K bug's potential for disruption remained the big imponderable of the month, 1000 youths gave a fearful preview of what might be on New Year's Eve as they fought police after a Christmas in the Park concert in the Auckland Domain.