1.   Vandals sparked a blaze when they set fire to old tyres at the former Walker Tyres site, in West Auckland, early yesterday.

2.   A motif of yearning to be elsewhere was set early in the day in the disconnected one-minute morning speeches of House members.

3.   All three indexes are now far below the peaks they set early last year during the heady days of the Internet bubble.

4.   But then, Lakers public-address announcer Lawrence Tanter had introduced Hearn as greatest play-by-play announcer in NBA history, so the tone has been set early.

5.   Regrettably, the Clinton administration still hopes to make a decision on construction this summer, a timetable it set early last year in response to intense Republican pressure.

6.   The actual price could be set as early as Monday.

7.   The dunderhead tone was set early.

8.   The negative tone was set early in the day by the latest in a series of disappointing earnings announcements from a technology company.

9.   The sale schedule for both assets should be set early in April, the committee spokesman said.

10.   The tone for all of this was set early by Springer.