Código PHP:
function newId()
{
require_once ("includes/connect.php");
$sql_select_id = "SELECT MAX(news_id) FROM news_index";
$sql_query = mysql_query($sql_select_id);
$R=mysql_fetch_row($sql_query);
$id=$R[0];
$n_id=$id+1;
return $n_id;
}
y esto funcionará