The links aren’t working because you have the div.center-page located directly over the top of it. The mouse events aren’t firing because the browser isn’t detecting a mouse over the links, they are detecting a mouse over the div.center-page.
You should be able to keep everything the same if you want and just add a little css to push the ticker “above” your other div element:
#mtphr-dnt-203 { position: relative; z-index: 999; }
For your other css you just need to make sure you target the ticker:
#mtphr-dnt-203 {
font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
color: #ffffff;
background-color: #269D2E;
}
You may also need to get more specific with the links as you might have css for your theme that is already more specific:
#mtphr-dnt-203 a {
font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
color: #ffffff;
}