The MLP extraordinary general conference and the PN general council dominate today's front pages.

The Times says Malta Labour Party members have been denied the right to vote for their leader as a big majority of delegates (165 for and 620 against) rejected a motion to change the party's statute to allow paid-up members to vote for the new leader on June 5.

The Malta Independent says Labour delegates have voted "to keep members out of party leadership election process". In another story, it quotes PN secretary Joe Saliba telling the PN general council that the party must continue to renew itself.

l-orizzont dedicates its whole front page to the MLP conference saying that the delegates only will vote for the new leader.

In-Nazzjon leads with PN general council saying that the party had vision and would continue to renew itself. It says that the MLP has not changed anything and also focuses on today's opening of the eleventh legislature.

Il-Gens Illum leads with today's opening of parliament, quoting Leader of the House Tonio Borg saying that the government would do everything to reach a pairing agreement with the oposition.

The Press in Britain...

The wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Cherie, has been spilling the beans to The Times about her husband's departure from No 10 - and claiming that he is advising Gordon Brown on how to stay there. Ahead of the publication of her memoirs, she says Mr Blair was prepared to step down in 2005 but was not sure Mr Brown would implement public service reforms.

The Daily Telegraph also features Cherie Blair prominently, saying she will be less than flattering about Mr Brown in her memoirs. However, its lead story reveals that the continuing cash problems at Royal Mail could mean an end to postal deliveries on Saturdays.

The Daily Mail claims the BBC is under fire for banking £100,000 that people donated through phone-ins for children in need. The paper says the BBC Trust has ordered corporation bosses to apologise.

The Express tells how 54-year-old plumber Keith Hirst was kept in police cells when he refused to give his name and address after being fined £50 on-the-spot for dropping an apple core.

The Daily Mirror reports that Josef 'Dungeon dad' Fritzl could be convicted of murdering his own baby as the evidence of his son, who the Austrian held in captivity for 18 years, could be enough for a conviction.

The Independent leads with the devastating aftermath of the Burmese cyclone, showing corpses on the Payapon river, a branch of the Irrawaddy. The paper says the waters which normally bring life to the area now deliver the dead.

The Guardian notes that nearly two million people are at risk of disease and hunger in the aftermath of the cyclone. The paper reports on efforts by the UN to get aid into the country - while the military government resists it.

And elsewhere...

The New York Times reports that the United Nations has launched a "flash appeal" for Burma and is asking for almost $200m to help meet the needs of more than 1.5 million people affected by last Saturday's cyclone. The UN, which has called on Burma's military junta to stop restricting aid deliveries, says it will resume aid flights to Burma today. Meanwhile, despite the devastation, the junta has decided to hold the scheduled constitutional referendum today.

The Star quotes a Lebanese government spokesman denouncing the seizure of much of western Beirut by Hezbollah fighters as "a coup aimed at increasing the influence of Syria and Iran". Hezbollah fighters have taken control of the offices of pro-government factions as the army stayed out of the fighting. At least 11 people have been killed and 40 others wounded during three days of clashes.

Al-Ayyam says two Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed five Palestinians, all members of the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza. The air raids on the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis followed a Palestinian mortar attack launched from Gaza that killed an Israeli civilian. Hamas had claimed responsibility for that attack.

The Moscow Times reports that for the first time in 18 years Russia has shown off its heavy weaponry in a Soviet-style military parade through Moscow's Red Square. The ceremony to celebrate World War Two Victory Day was attended by Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev and his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who is now prime minister. The parade featured intercontinental ballistic missiles, tanks and other vehicles, as well as a fly-past of military aircraft.

Messaggero Veneto leads with the arrest of seven mafia suspects, including alleged members of two crime families linked to the murder of six Italians killed in an August 2007 shooting in Duisburg, Germany. The suspects include two women, Maria Pelle and Antonella Vottari, the wife and sister of prominent 'Ndrangheta boss, Francesco Vottari, who was arrested in October 2007.

The Courier says a 41-year-old mother is expecting her 18th child. Michelle Duggar's latest addition, due on New Year's Day, will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins. The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old. The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in north-west Arkansas in a 7,000 square foot home. All the children - whose names start with the letter J, are home-schooled.

A stay-at-home mother should be paid over €75,500 a year, according to new research by a Massachusetts firm. The Boston Globe says salary.com's eighth annual survey calculated a mother's market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mother performs. This year, the annual salary for a stay-at-home mother would be €75,549 while a working mother who also juggles an outside job would get €44,252 for her motherly duties. The biggest driver of a mother's theoretical salary is the amount of overtime pay she would receive for working more than 40 hours a week. The 18,000 mothers surveyed about their typical week reported working 94.4 hours - meaning they'd be spending more than half their working hours on overtime. Working mothers reported an average 54.6 hour "mom work week" besides the hours they spent at paying jobs.