Jakarta - The Indonesian parliament on Tuesday passed a new law on coal and mining that is expected to pave the way of international mining companies to exploit its mineral resources.

The endorsement of the Bill on Minerals and Coal Mining ending three years of deliberation at parliament, sometimes exacerbated by quarreling among lawmakers, but sparked uncertainty among miners.

Muhaimin Iskandar, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, confirmed that the bill was passed despite objections from certain factions.

Jakarta  - Indonesian police named the female leader of a controversial cult as a suspect for religious blasphemy Tuesday, an offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

Lia Aminuddin, the leader of the "Kingdom of Eden," was brought to the Jakarta city police headquarters on Monday for distributing anti-religious leaflets urging the disbanding of all religions, including Islam.

Police also took 23 other people, including 11 children, to the Jakarta police headquarters for questioning, the Suara Pembaruan daily reported.

Jakarta - South-East Asian foreign ministers Monday formalized a charter that transforms the 41-year-old bloc of half a billion people into a a more united community.

The charter sets out rules of membership, transforms the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into a legal entity and proposes a single free trade area by 2015.

"Today, the ASEAN Charter officially entered into force," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the meeting at the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta. "This is a momentous development at a time when ASEAN is consolidating, integrating and transforming itself into a community."

Jakarta - An 30-year-old Indonesia man allegedly doused his girlfriend in petrol and burned her to death in a fit of jealousy, a media report said Saturday.

Jakarta- Indonesian police seized more than 6 kilograms of heroin and arrested two people in one of the biggest drug hauls in the country this year, police said Friday.

The heroin was seized when police raided a house in the eastern Jakarta suburb of Cipinang on Thursday night, said Brigadier General Harry Montolalu, director of the anti-drugs unit at national police headquarters.

Wellington  - New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully Friday expressed his country's condolences on the death of former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who he described as one of South-east Asia's most eminent statesmen.

McCully said Alatas had been a good friend to New Zealand over several decades and particularly noted the role he played in building the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) into a major force for regional progress and stability.