11.   In recent weeks, nervous consumers have pulled back on spending and stayed closer to home.

12.   Investors fear the lower crude prices will lead companies to pull back on spending for the products and services needed to drill wells, reducing profits.

13.   None of what Brown pulled off on Monday was supposed to happen, at least not arithmetically.

14.   On Sunday they pulled out all stops.

15.   Such difficulties may become more common across more industries as labor costs and borrowing costs rise and a less-confident consumer pulls back on spending.

16.   The ill-starred government of the tycoon-turned-prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was pulled down on Thursday by his squabbling coalition partners.

17.   The tall chain-link fence that had once surrounded the tree and the fortified building was toppled in celebrations after the last Israeli jeep pulled out on Thursday.

18.   Peter Jacobsen, who qualified by winning twice last year, pulled out on Thursday with a sore back.

19.   A Thai military officer along the border, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Myanmar troops had agreed to pull out on Thursday.

20.   Adkins was pulled over on Thursday night while driving to his Williamson County home, said Schatzi Hageman, his publicist.