diff -r acabd3f035fe Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py	Wed Nov 27 14:42:55 2013 -0800
+++ b/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py	Thu Nov 28 15:14:51 2013 +0800
@@ -1035,6 +1035,11 @@
         self.assertEqual(list(parser.read_events()), [('end-ns', None)])
         self.assertIsNone(parser.close())
 
+    def test_ns_events_with_empty_namespace(self):
+        parser = ET.XMLPullParser(events=('start-ns', 'end-ns'))
+        self._feed(parser, "<root xmlns=''>\n")
+        self.assertEqual(list(parser.read_events()), [])
+
     def test_events(self):
         parser = ET.XMLPullParser(events=())
         self._feed(parser, "<root/>\n")
diff -r acabd3f035fe Modules/_elementtree.c
--- a/Modules/_elementtree.c	Wed Nov 27 14:42:55 2013 -0800
+++ b/Modules/_elementtree.c	Thu Nov 28 15:14:51 2013 +0800
@@ -3038,7 +3038,10 @@
     if (PyErr_Occurred())
         return;
 
-    suri = PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(uri, strlen(uri), "strict");
+    if (uri)
+        suri = PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(uri, strlen(uri), "strict");
+    else
+        sprefix = PyUnicode_FromString("");
     if (!suri)
         return;