Manila - More than half of Filipinos distrust Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo amid unresolved political and economic controversies, a survey showed on Wednesday.

According to an October poll by Pulse Asia Inc, 51 per cent of 1,200 respondents nationwide have "small or no trust" in Arroyo, who has been struggling with low ratings for the past three years.

Only 24 per cent have "big trust" on Arroyo, while the rest were undecided, Pulse Asia said.

The distrust rating was down from 57 per cent in October 2007 and 53 per cent in March 2008. The rating was the same in July 2008.

Wellington - Nearly half of all Maoris registered to vote for the seven parliamentary seats reserved for New Zealand's indigenous people boycotted last weekend's general election, the Maori Party said on Wednesday.

"Something is terribly wrong with our democracy," said Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia.

She said the party had campaigned strongly to persuade their people to vote and despite many Maoris being poverty-stricken it was clear they had become seriously alienated and disenfranchised.

New Delhi

Rohit Monserratte, son of Goa Education Minister who allegedly raped a German minor girl, was granted bail on Monday.

The Mumbai police have stepped up security outside Congress MP Gurudas Kamats residence near Diamond Garden in Chembur following reports of a possible attack by Shiv Sainiks.

Kamat had recently criticized Sena chief Bal Thackeray for defending sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and the other accused in the Malegaon blast case. He demanded that govt. should take strict action needs to be taken against both Islamic and Hindu terror outfits.

He also said that, by defending Sadhvi in public Thackrey had endorsed terror and so he also needed to be arrested.