function renderNews(item_id) {

  //alert(item_id);

  var url = '?';
  var pars = "CoMeT_function=run_module&module=ModNews&function=render_news&action=render_news&item_id=" + item_id;

  var myAjax = new Ajax.Request(
    url,
    {
      method: 'post',
      postBody: pars,
        encoding: 'ISO-8859-1',
      onComplete: renderNewsResponse
    });
}

function renderNewsResponse(resp) {
  $('news_item').innerHTML = resp.responseText;
}