public static function htmlDecode(s:String):String {
                var out:String = "";
                if (s==null) return "";
                //regex convert all numeric character references to regular chars
                var matches:Array = s.match(/&#\d+;?/g);
                for(var i:Number = 0; i < matches.length; i++){
                    var replacement:Object = String.fromCharCode((matches[i]).replace(/\D/g,""));
                    s = s.replace(/&#\d+;?/, replacement);
                }
                //convert all character entity references / HTML entities
                var l:Number = s.length;
                for (i=0; i<l; i++){
                    var ch:String = s.charAt(i);
                    if (ch == '&'){
                        var semicolonIndex:Number = s.indexOf(';', i+1);
                        if (semicolonIndex > 0) {
                            var entity:String = s.substring(i + 1, semicolonIndex);
                            i = semicolonIndex;
                        }
                    }
                    out += ch;
                }
                return out;
            }