emanuele feels like "someone" (hint <=) forgot to add the time as parameter of the newsfader initialization call
$(\'#elkFadeScroller\').Elk_NewsFader();', true);
should be something like:
$(\'#elkFadeScroller\').Elk_NewsFader(' . (empty($settings['newsfader_time']) ? '' : '{\'iFadeDelay\': ' . $settings['newsfader_time'] . '}') . ');', true);