UNCERTAINTY GRIPS MALAYSIA AS MAHATHIR CONSIDERS NEXT MOVEThe political guessing game continues in Malaysia a day after Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad's abrupt resignation, prolonging the atmosphere ofuncertainty in the nation of more than 30 million people.While Mahathir stays on as premier in an interim capacity without a cabinet,efforts are under way on Tuesday to find the country's next leader.Now there are questions whether the 94-year-old leader will make anothercomeback, or will his would-be successor, Anwar Ibrahim, cobble enoughsupport from a fractious coalition to become the next prime minister.But the possibility of a dissolution of the parliament, which paves the wayfor new elections has also emerged.Malaysia's king is holding meetings with all members of parliament onTuesday and Wednesday to determine who the majority wants to support andform a new government."The king will be meeting all 222 MPs to find out who they support as PM.The person who has the support of at least 112 MPs will be the most likelyone to be appointed as PM," a senior member of Mahathir's Pakatan Harapan(Alliance of Hope) coalition explained to Al Jazeera.In the meantime, Mahathir runs the government with the king's backing andthe help of civil servants, Kadir Jasin, Mahathir's media adviser, said.On Tuesday, Mahathir's office confirmed that he met leaders of differentparties across Malaysia's political divide, including Anwar, as well as theopposition.Reuters news agency is also reporting that he is proposing to lead a "unitygovernment", but it is unclear which political blocs would be willing tojoin such an arrangement.On Tuesday night, UMNO, the main opposition party, has rejected a unitygovernment with Mahathir, adding that its members favour a dissolution ofparliament that would pave the way for a general election.NETANYAHU VOWS SETTLER HOMES IN WEST BANK AREAIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to build 3,500 newsettler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just aweek before a tight general election."I gave immediate instructions for a permit to deposit (plans) for theconstruction of 3,500 units in E1," Netanyahu said. The internationalcommunity has warned repeatedly that Jewish settlement construction in theE1 corridor would cut the West Bank in two and compromise the contiguity ofa future Palestinian state. "We are building Jerusalem and Jerusalem'soutskirts," Netanyahu said at a conference in remarks relayed by aspokesman.In 2013, Netanyahu had vetoed construction in the E1 corridor in the face ofUN, EU and US pressure.The move to advance new homes, which would constitute a new neighbourhood ofMaale Adumim, a nearby settlement town, were praised by the Yesha Council, asettler lobby group, which noted that plans for homes there have existedsince 2004. "Advancing the issue will enable broad and strategicconstruction between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem," Yesha Council head DavidElhayani said in a statement.CHINA JAILS SWEDISH BOOKSELLER FOR 10 YEARSA court in eastern China has sentenced a Swedish seller of books that took askeptical look at the ruling Communist Party to 10 years in prison for"illegally providing intelligence overseas," in a further sign of Beijing'shard line toward its critics.Gui Minhai first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have beenabducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand. He and fourothers who worked for the same Hong Kong publishing company all went missingat around the same time, only to turn up months later in police custody inChina.The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court announced Tuesday that it gave Gui, anaturalised Swedish citizen, a 10-year prison sentence. Gui admitted to hiscrime, agreed with the sentence and will not appeal, the court said.