Seven days

A glance at the week that was

We now know 

Austerity was the most searched-for word of the year on the website of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Tweeting from court is to be allowed in England and Wales after a ruling by the lord chief justice

This week's total lunar eclipse was the first to coincide with a solstice since 1638

Hit by guilt

A thief has anonymously sent money to a hardware shop in Pennsylvania to pay for a hammer stolen decades ago. The envelope also contained a handwritten letter explaining that the hammer had been taken from the family-owned Central Contractors Supply Co between 25 and 30 years ago.

"I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway," the note reads. "Enclosed is $45 to cover the hammer plus a little extra for interest. I'm sorry I stole it, but have changed my ways."

Cough soother

A chemical in cocoacould soon be used to treat persistent coughs, scientists claim. Researchers are in the final stages of carrying out trials of a drug that contains theobromine, which is found in cocoa (below) and chocolate.

It is understood that the ingredient works by inhibiting inappropriate firing of the vagus nerve, which is a characteristic of coughs that last more than two weeks.

The drug, BC1036, is being developed by a private UK company, Seek, which says it could be on the market within two years.

The numbers

$32.4m; The record fine Toyota agreed to pay over its handling of more than 10 million car recalls

10%; The rate of growth of the US population in the past 10 years, its slowest since the 1930s

16.6m; The number of times Avatar was downloaded illegally this year, according to file-sharing blog TorrentFreak

IT WAS SAID;"It's so tough when you're not well to feel like you're being judged for something which should be a simple procedure -  Michelle Harte, who travelled to the UK for an abortion earlier this year while terminally ill with cancer