Including URL-encoded query string in XHTML document

I'm trying to process an XML data feed that contains URL-encoded query
strings, like the following:

	<item url="research.exe?ticker=GS&type=1" date="01/01/2000">goldman
sachs</item>	

and use the stylesheet below to construct an href tag for each item element:

	<xsl:template match="item">
		<a>
			<xsl:attribute name="href">
				<xsl:value-of select="@url">
			</xsl:attribute>
			<xsl:value-of select="." />
		</a>
	</xsl:template>

Any advice on what is the best way to pass a URL-encoded string through the
XSLT transformation?
I substituted "&" with "&amp;" in the original data, but then the output
XSLT document also contains &amp; and there seems to be no way to print "&"
as it is.
Using <xsl:output method="html" > or "disable-output-escape" directives did
not seem to help. 

thanks in advance,
-yelena


 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list