var xmlHttp

function showNews(offset)
{ 
	xmlHttp=GetXmlHttpObject()
	if (xmlHttp==null)
	{
		alert ("Browser does not support HTTP Request")
	 	return
	}
	
	var url="/ajax/newsItems.php"
	url=url+"?offset="+offset
	xmlHttp.onreadystatechange=stateChanged 
	xmlHttp.open("GET",url,true)
	xmlHttp.send(null)
}

function stateChanged() 
{ 
if (xmlHttp.readyState==4 || xmlHttp.readyState=="complete")
 { 
 document.getElementById("newsItems").innerHTML=xmlHttp.responseText 
 } 
}

function GetXmlHttpObject()
{
var xmlHttp=null;
try
 {
 // Firefox, Opera 8.0+, Safari
 xmlHttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
 }
catch (e)
 {
 //Internet Explorer
 try
  {
  xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
  }
 catch (e)
  {
  xmlHttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  }
 }
return xmlHttp;
}