var block_size   = 145;
var pause        = 10;
var scroll_speed = 2;
var up_count     = 0;
var timeout      = null;
var news_items   = null;

function scrollTicker(y_axis) {
    if (y_axis == null) y_axis = -block_size;

    new Effect.Move($('newsitems'), {
        x: 0,
        y: y_axis,
        duration: scroll_speed,
        queue: 'end',
        afterFinish: function() {
            if (y_axis < 0) {
                up_count++;
                if (up_count % 4 == 0) {
                    Element.insert($('newsitems'),{'bottom':news_items});
                }
            }
            timeout = scrollTicker.delay(pause);
        }
    });
}

document.observe('dom:loaded', function() {
    timeout = setTimeout(scrollTicker, 10000);

    news_items = $('newsitems').innerHTML;
    for (var $i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) {
        Element.insert($('newsitems'),{'bottom':news_items});
    }

    $('newsitems').observe('click', function(e) {
        var clickedRow = e.findElement('img');
        if (clickedRow.readAttribute("class") == "up") {
            window.clearTimeout(timeout);
            timeout = scrollTicker(-block_size);
        }
        else if (clickedRow.readAttribute("class") == "down") {
            window.clearTimeout(timeout);
            timeout = scrollTicker(block_size);
        }
    });
});