Wellington  - A new minority centre-right government in New Zealand will be sworn in this week after John Key, prime minister-elect and leader of the conservative National Party, signed power-sharing agreements with three other parties on Sunday.

They included the Maori Party, representatives of the country's indigenous population whose special status and rights Key's party threatened to abolish less than five years ago.

Wellington  - John Key, leader of New Zealand's conservative National Party, confirmed Sunday that he had signed agreements with three other parties to establish a minority centre-right government.

The Nationals won the most seats in parliament at a general election on November 8 to oust the Labour-led coalition that had governed for nine years, but failed to get an overall majority.

As a result of the agreements finalized Sunday, the Nationals are now guaranteed 70 of the 122 seats in the House of Representatives.

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.

Wellington, Nov 11 : New figures have shown that the South Pole is gradually becoming a tourist hotspot, with increasing numbers of tourists heading there for vacation, despite the fact that it is one of the most remote places on Earth.

According to a report in The Dominion Post, arrivals at the South Pole quadrupled from 40 in the 2003-04 season to 164 last year, if statistics from the United States base at the pole are to be believed.

The first humans to arrive at the South Pole were Roald Amundsen and his party, on December 14, 1911.

Wellington  - New Zealand prime minister-elect John Key, whose conservative National Party won the largest number of parliamentary seats in last weekend's election, was in talks Tuesday with political allies on the shape of his government.

Amid signs that he would run a minority government rather than a formal coalition, Key had a brief meeting with Rodney Hide, leader of the free market ACT party, and another with leaders of the Maori Party, which both won five seats in Saturday's election.

Wellington  - New Zealand's Labour Party, which was defeated at the weekend's general election after ruling since 1999, elected Phil Goff, 55, as its new leader on Tuesday.

Goff replaces Helen Clark, 58, who had led the party for 15 years, the last nine as prime minister. Clark resigned after the conservative National Party won Saturday's election. She is staying in parliament and will be Labour's spokeswoman on foreign affairs.

Goff, who has been a member of parliament since 1981, apart from three years when he lost his seat, has held the foreign affairs, trade and defence portfolios.

Annette King, 61, becomes deputy leader of the party, replacing former finance minister Michael Cullen.