var menu = createRequestObject();

menu.open("get", "includes/left_news_menu.html");
menu.onreadystatechange = load_menu;
menu.send(null);

function createRequestObject(){
     var request_o; //declare the variable to hold the object.
     var browser = navigator.appName; //find the browser name
     if(browser == "Microsoft Internet Explorer"){
          /* Create the object using MSIE's method */
          request_o = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
     }else{
          /* Create the object using other browser's method */
          request_o = new XMLHttpRequest();
     }
     return request_o; //return the object
}

function load_menu(){
    if(menu.readyState == 4){
        var response = menu.responseText;
        document.getElementById('LeftMenuBox').innerHTML = response;
    }
}