Wordpress: lastest post within category

gistfile1.txt

//Function for showing lastest post within cat_id
function imediapixel_latestnews($blogcat,$num=4,$title="") { 
  global $post;
  
  echo $title;
  
  if(is_array($blogcat)) {
    $blog_includes = implode(",",$blogcat);
  } else {
    $blog_includes = $blogcat;
  }  
  
  query_posts('cat='.$blog_includes.'&showposts='.$num);
  ?>
    <ul class="latestnews">
      <?php
      while ( have_posts() ) : the_post();
      $image_thumbnail = get_post_meta($post->ID, '_image_thumbnail', true );
      ?>
        <li>
          <a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><?php the_title();?></a>
          <p class="posteddate"><?php echo __('Posted on ','ecobiz');?><?php the_time( get_option('date_format') ); ?></p>
        </li>
      <?php endwhile;?>
 	  </ul>
    <div class="clear"></div>
    <?php 
    $blog_page = get_option('ecobiz_blog_page');
    $blog_pid = get_page_by_title($blog_page);
    ?>
    <a href="<?php echo get_permalink($blog_pid->ID);?>" class="button-more"><?php echo __('View All News','ecobiz');?></a>
  <?php
}