function dropdownmenu()
{


idx = theForm.newsMenu.selectedIndex;
    url = theForm.newsMenu.options[idx].value;

    if (url == 'URL') {
        str = theForm.newsMenu.options[idx].text;
        i = 0;
        finished = false;

        while (!finished) {
            if (((str.charAt(i) < 'z') && (str.charAt(i) > 'A')) || i >= str.length)
                finished = true;
            else
                i++;
        }

        url = window.location.protocol+'//'+window.location.host+'/cgi-bin/counterDb.pl/http:/' + str.substring(i,str.length);
    }


else if (url != '') {
      window.location  = url;  
    }

} //