A PENSIONER has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 79-year-old woman.

The man is believed to have called the police from a home in Coronation Avenue, Sunniside, Gateshead, yesterday.

The victim, who lived at the address, has been identified as Elizabeth Elliott. A murder inquiry was launched after a post-mortem examination revealed she had died from strangulation.

sweets alert: Parents were warned yesterday not to allow their children to eat a jelly sweet which has been linked to 14 deaths elsewhere in the world. Children who suck the sweets - ABC Mini Fruit Bites, New Choice Mini Fruit Gels, and Rolin Mango Jelly Cup - out of the small container it comes in can easily choke and removing it quickly is difficult, the Food Standards Agency warned.

DE NIRO favourite: Robert De Niro is the top film actor of all-time, according to 13,000 people who voted in movie channel FilmFour's top 100 stars poll. Sir Sean Connery (number five) ranked the top Brit and the highest placed woman was Jodie Foster (23).

POST safe: The threat of a national postal strike in the New Year was lifted yesterday. Agreement between union leaders and Consignia was reached that there would be no compulsory redundancies in the plan to axe 30,000 jobs.

BRITONS IN CRASH: Thirty-six elderly British tourists were slightly injured yesterday after their tour coach struck an overturned truck near Benidorm, Spain. A car then slammed into the truck, killing its Spanish driver.

PUPILS strike: More than 200 children boycotted lessons for two hours yesterday in protest at proposals to shut their school in Bristol decided as part of a shake-up of secondary education in the city.

PILLAR tragedy: A 13-year-old boy died after a stone driveway pillar collapsed on him in Barnstaple, Devon. He and two friends had been sitting on a chain which ran between the pillars.

VIRGIN STRIKE: Station staff employed by Virgin Trains are to stage two 24-hour strikes - on December 23 and on New Year's Eve - in a row over employment conditions.

NEW LINER: Cunard has ordered a 1,968-passenger cruise liner to be built in Italy. It will be based at Southampton.

Euro trash: People in the UK are more anti the single currency than any EU member nation, a Eurobarometer poll shows. Elsewhere, the survey found solid backing for the euro.