function SetupNews() {
    xmlHttp = GetXmlHttpObject();

    if (xmlHttp == null) {
        alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
        return;
    }
    var pageTextBox = $("[id$='hidPage']");

    var url = "/Common/News.aspx";
    var queryString = "";

    queryString += "?Type=snippet";
    queryString += "&section=" + $.trim(pageTextBox.val());

    url = url + queryString;

    // make an async call
    xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = stateChanged;
    xmlHttp.open("GET", url, true);
    xmlHttp.send(null);

    $('#newsLoading').show();
}

function SetupNewsCategories() {
    xmlHttp = GetXmlHttpObject();

    if (xmlHttp == null) {
        alert("Your browser does not support AJAX!");
        return;
    }
    var pageTextBox = $("[id$='hidCategory']");

    var url = "/Common/News.aspx";
    var queryString = "";

    queryString += "?Type=category";
    queryString += "&section=" + $.trim(pageTextBox.val());

    url = url + queryString;

    // make an async call
    xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = stateChanged;
    xmlHttp.open("GET", url, true);
    xmlHttp.send(null);

    $('#newsLoading').show();
}

//============================= creates XmlHttp object for different browsers ==================================================
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;
}

//========================== The stateChanged() function executes every time the state of the XMLHTTP object changes.==============
function stateChanged() {

    if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4) {

        document.getElementById("news").innerHTML = xmlHttp.responseText
        $('#news').fadeIn('slow');
        $('#newsLoading').hide();
    }
}