Peers voted by 246 to 230, majority of 16, to reject plans to cut some of the benefits given to children on the lower rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), during third reading of the Welfare Reform Bill on 31 January 2012.

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The market place is awaiting the latest reading on the growth rate of the U.S. economy, due out Friday morning.

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In economic news, the Commerce Department is reporting a 3.3 percent increase in new home sales in April, to a seasonally adjusted 343, 000 annual rate. economists were expecting a reading of 335, 000.

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Richard Allan, from the Department of Meteorology at the UK's University of Reading, said the WMO's latest data confirmed the trend in the rate of rise reported in recent decades.

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This helped push the overall unemployment rate down to 7.8% from a previously revised reading of 8.0%.

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He was an avid reader, reading tens of thousands of books, at a rate of several a day in multiple languages.

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This ratio is in decline mode, dropping from its June 6 reading of 1.16 as calls continue to be added at a faster rate than puts among near-term options.

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My reading of the domestic economy is that it will limp along at a below average growth rate of 2 percent for the foreseeable future (two years).

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