diff --git a/core.php b/core.php
index 0de47165ac..821e5287a0 100644
--- a/core.php
+++ b/core.php
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@
 	die();
 }
 
+# Ensure that encoding is always UTF-8 independant from any PHP default or ini setting
+mb_internal_encoding('UTF-8');
+
 ob_start();
 
 # Load Composer autoloader
diff --git a/core/commands/IssueNoteAddCommand.php b/core/commands/IssueNoteAddCommand.php
index a4734ae90f..4283a88e61 100644
--- a/core/commands/IssueNoteAddCommand.php
+++ b/core/commands/IssueNoteAddCommand.php
@@ -243,11 +243,7 @@ protected function process() {
 		}
 
 		# Handle the file upload
-		if( count( $this->files > 0 ) ) {
-			$t_file_infos = file_attach_files( $this->issue->id, $this->files );
-		} else {
-			$t_file_infos = array();
-		}
+		$t_file_infos = file_attach_files( $this->issue->id, $this->files );
 
 		# We always set the note time to BUGNOTE, and the API will overwrite it with TIME_TRACKING
 		# if time tracking is not 0 and the time tracking feature is enabled.
diff --git a/core/file_api.php b/core/file_api.php
index 10bd586d50..cc8ada2b65 100644
--- a/core/file_api.php
+++ b/core/file_api.php
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
  */
 function file_attach_files( $p_bug_id, $p_files ) {
 	if( $p_files === null || count( $p_files ) == 0 ) {
-		return;
+		return array();
 	}
 
 	$t_file_infos = array();