diff --git a/numpy-1.6.2-unicode-python3.3.patch b/numpy-1.6.2-unicode-python3.3.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7038a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/numpy-1.6.2-unicode-python3.3.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+--- numpy/core/src/multiarray/scalarapi.c.orig	2012-05-19 15:51:54.000000000 +0200
++++ numpy/core/src/multiarray/scalarapi.c	2012-08-05 14:57:02.068276634 +0200
+@@ -652,6 +652,35 @@
+             itemsize = (((itemsize - 1) >> 2) + 1) << 2;
+         }
+     }
++#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03030000
++    if (type_num == NPY_UNICODE) {
++        PyObject *u, *args;
++        int byteorder;
++
++#if NPY_BYTE_ORDER == NPY_LITTLE_ENDIAN
++        byteorder = -1;
++#elif NPY_BYTE_ORDER == NPY_BIG_ENDIAN
++        byteorder = +1;
++#else
++        #error Endianness undefined ?
++#endif
++        if (swap) byteorder *= -1;
++
++        u = PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32(data, itemsize, NULL, &byteorder);
++        if (u == NULL) {
++            return NULL;
++        }
++        args = Py_BuildValue("(O)", u);
++        if (args == NULL) {
++            Py_DECREF(u);
++            return NULL;
++        }
++        obj = type->tp_new(type, args, NULL);
++        Py_DECREF(u);
++        Py_DECREF(args);
++        return obj;
++    }
++#endif
+     if (type->tp_itemsize != 0) {
+         /* String type */
+         obj = type->tp_alloc(type, itemsize);
+@@ -688,6 +717,7 @@
+             memcpy(destptr, data, itemsize);
+             return obj;
+         }
++#if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03030000
+         else if (type_num == PyArray_UNICODE) {
+             /* tp_alloc inherited from Python PyBaseObject_Type */
+             PyUnicodeObject *uni = (PyUnicodeObject*)obj;
+@@ -759,6 +789,7 @@
+ #endif
+             return obj;
+         }
++#endif /* PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03030000 */
+         else {
+             PyVoidScalarObject *vobj = (PyVoidScalarObject *)obj;
+             vobj->base = NULL;
diff --git a/numpy.spec b/numpy.spec
index 3a9ef44..081d539 100644
--- a/numpy.spec
+++ b/numpy.spec
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ Group:          Development/Languages
 License:        BSD
 URL:            http://numeric.scipy.org/
 Source0:        http://downloads.sourceforge.net/numpy/%{name}-%{version}%{?relc}.tar.gz
+# backport unicode fixes from upstream git repo
+# based on:
+# commit 4676f33f9c77b04e9c599e642de7ab465f48ea8f
+# Merge: fd15162 f2ac38f
+# Author: Travis E. Oliphant <teoliphant@gmail.com>
+# Date:   Fri Aug 3 22:46:21 2012 -0700
+Patch0:         numpy-1.6.2-unicode-python3.3.patch
 BuildRoot:      %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}-root-%(%{__id_u} -n)
 
 BuildRequires:  python2-devel lapack-devel python-setuptools gcc-gfortran atlas-devel python-nose
@@ -24,7 +31,7 @@ Requires:	python-nose
 %if 0%{?with_python3}
 BuildRequires:  python3-devel
 BuildRequires:  python3-setuptools
-#BuildRequires:  python3-nose
+BuildRequires:  python3-nose
 %endif
 
 %description
@@ -82,6 +89,7 @@ This package includes a version of f2py that works properly with NumPy.
 
 %prep
 %setup -q -n %{name}-%{version}%{?relc}
+%patch0 -p0
 
 %if 0%{?with_python3}
 rm -rf %{py3dir}
@@ -173,9 +181,9 @@ popd &> /dev/null
 %if 0%{?with_python3}
 pushd doc &> /dev/null
 # there is no python3-nose yet
-#PYTHONPATH="%{buildroot}%{python3_sitearch}" %{__python3} -c "import pkg_resources, numpy ; numpy.test()" \
+PYTHONPATH="%{buildroot}%{python3_sitearch}" %{__python3} -c "import pkg_resources, numpy ; numpy.test()" \
 %ifarch s390 s390x
-#|| :
+|| :
 %endif
 # don't remove this comment
 popd &> /dev/null
@@ -249,6 +257,8 @@ rm -rf %{buildroot}
 %changelog
 * Sun Aug  5 2012 Thomas Spura <tomspur@fedoraproject.org> - 1:1.6.2-4
 - rebuild for https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Python_3.3
+- needs unicode patch
+- also run tests on python3
 
 * Fri Aug  3 2012 David Malcolm <dmalcolm@redhat.com> - 1:1.6.2-3
 - remove rhel logic from with_python3 conditional