The following are the leading stories in the Maltese and international press today.

The Times leads with the murder of a woman, 50, in San Gwann yesterday. The newspaper also shows the Archbishop and the Imam praying together at the Mosque in Corradino. The Archbishop yesterday visited the Islamic school in Corradino. It also reports the arrival of HMS Illustrious in Malta.

The Malta Independent says the MLP’s target to create 2,000 jobs a year is not enough because the country needs 5,000 new jobs a year if unemployment is not to rise.

Malta Today says the MUT had warned the MLP in 2006 against having the reception class as an election class proposal.

Business Today said the George Vella has cited an ‘exceptional circumstances’ clause in defence of Malta Shipyards, but European Commission officials said they were unaware of such a clause.

In-Nazzjon reports Dr Gonzi’s commitment to invest €200 million to create new and better jobs.

It alleges that the woman killed in San Gwann was murdered by her teenage daughter.

The same claim is carried on the front page of l-orizzont, which says the victim was stabbed three times in the neck. The newspaper says a friend of the daughter reported the case to the police.

The Daily Mirror reports that as bus stop killer Levi Bellfield was given a "whole life" sentence, fears continued to mount that he may have committed his first murder at the age of 12 while still at school.

The Sun has a picture of Bellfield talking to a girl at the entrance of a club, "hunting prey".

The Daily Express carries a picture of one of Bellfield's victims as the murderer was told he will die in jail but leads with the results of an investigation showing that the rising price of wheat has helped to add £18 a week to the price of an average shopping bill.

The Times carries a picture of British hostage Peter Moore, who has been held in Iraq by a Shi'ite group for about eight months. He appeared in a new video released by his captors in Iraq and on the British Prime Minister to free nine Iraqis in exchange for the release of five Britons.

The Independent says senior figures in medical research have attacked the pharmaceutical industry for withholding information to protect profits, exposing patients to drugs which could be useless or harmful.

The Guardian reports that drug users risk losing benefit unless they get treatment.

The Daily Telegraph has a picture of people punting in the February sunshine but its main story claims that millions are forced to work in benefits shake-up.

The Daily Mail launches a campaign to ban the plastic shopping bag as it publishes a dramatic picture of a rare turtle, slowly dying after plastic bags lodged in its gut.

Metro carries a stock picture of model Naomi Campbell who has had emergency surgery in Brazil for the removal of a cyst but leads with the news that the Brtitish government was watching 30 terror cells.

The Scotsman reports that Scotland's islands have been left fighting each other over a government scheme aimed at cutting the cost of ferry fares.

The Daily Star claims Cheryl Cole has hired a counsellor to try to save her marriage.

And elsewehere...

European Voice reports that members of the European Parliament have refused to publish a damning report exposing major abuses of staff allowances worth about £100m a year. A 21-14 vote of the European Parliament's budget control committee means the internal audit dossier remains under wraps. The move comes despite embarrassing leaks of its contents by Britain's Lib-Dem MEP Chris Davies last week after he refused to sign a confidentiality agreement .

Berliner Morgenpost quotes German authorities saying they have widened an investigation into a tax evasion scam centred on the tiny Alpine principality of Liechtenstein, as the United States, Australia, Italy and Sweden also join in the hunt for tax evaders. The probe is based on a confidential list sold to German intelligence agents for €4.2 million.

Al Ahrar reports that the Iraqi government has demanded that Turkey withdraw its army from Iraq's northern mountains. Since launching the operation last Thursday, Turkey's combined ground and air offensive to destroy PKK bases more than 150 rebels. Turkish media is reporting that the offensive is closing in on the PKK's headquarters situated in a valley, six kilometres from the Turkish border.

Kenya Times says talks to end the country's crisis over disputed elections were suspended after mediator and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan said there had been a second day without any progress. He stressed that the talks had not broken down and would consult President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga on how to push through a power-sharing deal.

The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano reports Cuba's newly-installed president Raul Castro has met with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Pope Benedict's secretary of state in his first meeting with a visiting foreign dignitary. The meeting, two days after the 76-year-old Castro succeeded his brother Fidel to become the first new Cuban head of state in 49 years, marks the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's trip to Cuba.

Expressen says a man was sentenced to 18 months in prison in Stockholm for trying to make his girlfriend of eight years miscarry by giving her a yoghurt containing three ground-up pills.