Indeed, deals backing debt repayment accounted for roughly 45% of October volume, compared to just over 71% in September.

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Seker said she often comes across wonderfully made black independent films that just aren't able to get big-studio backing or distribution deals.

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These and other deals have clear backing from Beijing.

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But accounting firms, even ones that have signed off on such deals, are backing away, fearing the wrath of the IRS. Last month PricewaterhouseCoopers resigned abruptly as Specialty Foods' auditor and is now examining its other income trust clients whose underlying companies are primarily American.

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In the past year or so his African trips have taken in Gambia, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda, among other places, presumably offering generous oil deals that few can resist in return for backing.

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Such regional proposals, if given serious backing, would do much to cut through the tangle of Asia's noodle bowl of deals.

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