diff --git a/includes/class.db-api.php b/includes/class.db-api.php
index f88d4de..164c331 100644
--- a/includes/class.db-api.php
+++ b/includes/class.db-api.php
@@ -438,6 +438,30 @@ function error( $error, $code = '500' ) {
 
 	}
 
+  /**
+  * Converts strings in array to UTF-8
+  * Prevents Json from returning nulls values
+  * with incompatible characters.
+  **/
+	function utf8encoding($inArray) { 
+	
+	    /* our return object */ 
+	    $newArray = array(); 
+
+	    /* step through inArray */ 
+	    foreach($inArray as $key => $val) { 
+	        if(is_object( $val ) || is_array($val)) { 
+	            /* recurse on array elements */ 
+	            $newArray[$key] = $this->utf8encoding($val);
+	        } else { 
+	        	  $newArray[$key] = utf8_encode($val);
+	        } 
+	    } 
+
+	    /* return utf8 encoded array */ 
+	    return $newArray; 
+	} 
+	
 	/**
 	 * Output JSON encoded data.
 	 * @todo Support JSONP, with callback filtering.
@@ -445,7 +469,7 @@ function error( $error, $code = '500' ) {
 	function render_json( $data, $query ) {
 
 		header('Content-type: application/json');
-		$output = json_encode( $data );
+		$output = json_encode( $this->utf8encoding($data) );
 		
 		// Prepare a JSONP callback.
 		$callback = $this->jsonp_callback_filter( $query['callback'] );
@@ -563,7 +587,7 @@ function object_to_xml( $array, $xml ) {
 	
 					//simple key/value child pair
 				} else {
-				$xml->addChild( $key, $value );
+				$xml->addChild( $key, utf8_encode($value) );
 			}
 	
 		}