var newsList; 
var newsTicker; 
var newsColor = 255;

function newsFade(divId) {
  if(newsTicker) {
    if(newsColor>40) {
      newsColor-=2; // increase color darkness
      newsTicker.style.color="rgb("+newsColor+","+newsColor+","+newsColor+")";
      setTimeout("newsFade('"+divId+"')",40); 
    } else {
      newsColor=255; //reset hex value
	}
  }
}

function newsInit(divId) {
  newsTicker = document.getElementById(divId);
  if(!newsTicker) newsError("Could not find a div element with id \""+divId+"\"");
  newsList = newsTicker.childNodes;
  if(newsList.length <= 0) newsError("The div element \""+divId+"\" does not have any children");
  for (var i=0; i<newsList.length; i++) {
    var node = newsList[i];
    if (node.nodeType == 3 && !/\S/.test(node.nodeValue)) 
    newsTicker.removeChild(node);
  }
  newsRun(divId, 0);
}

function newsRun(divId,count) {
  newsFade(divId);
  newsList[count].style.display = "block";
  if(count > 0) newsList[count-1].style.display = "none";
  else newsList[newsList.length-1].style.display = "none";
  count++;
  if(count == newsList.length) count = 0;
  window.setTimeout("newsRun('"+divId+"',"+count+")",5000);
}

function newsError(error) {
  alert("The script could not run because you have errors:\n\n"+error);
  return false;
}