function regionsRequest(url, countryCode) {

        var http_request = initAjax();

	var param = "countryCode=" + encodeURIComponent(countryCode);

        http_request.onreadystatechange = function() {
		fillRegionsList(http_request);
	};

   	http_request.open('POST', url, true);
	http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
        http_request.send(param);

}



    function fillRegionsList(http_request) {


        if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
            if (http_request.status == 200) {

		var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
		var region_tot = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('region').length;

		document.getElementById('region').options.length = 0;

		/*var o=new Option('....', -1);
		document.getElementById('region').options[document.getElementById('region').length]=o;*/

		for( var i = 0; i < region_tot; i++ ) {

		    var option_att = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('region').item( i );
		    var id_region = option_att.getAttribute( 'fips_code' );

		    var o=new Option(unescape(option_att.firstChild.data), unescape(id_region));
		    document.getElementById('region').options[document.getElementById('region').length]=o;
		}

            } else {
                alert('There was a problem with the request.');
            }
        }

	else if(http_request.readyState == 1 ){
		document.getElementById('region').options.length = 0;
		var o=new Option('Loading...', -1);
		document.getElementById('region').options[document.getElementById('region').length]=o;
	}

    }