Index: Misc/NEWS
===================================================================
--- Misc/NEWS	(revision 62172)
+++ Misc/NEWS	(working copy)
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- All backslashes in raw strings are interpreted literally.  This means that
+  Unicode escapes are not treated specially.
+
 Extension Modules
 -----------------
 
Index: Doc/reference/lexical_analysis.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/reference/lexical_analysis.rst	(revision 62172)
+++ Doc/reference/lexical_analysis.rst	(working copy)
@@ -423,8 +423,9 @@
 itself, or the quote character.
 
 String literals may optionally be prefixed with a letter ``'r'`` or ``'R'``;
-such strings are called :dfn:`raw strings` and use different rules for
-interpreting backslash escape sequences.
+such strings are called :dfn:`raw strings` and treat backslashes as literal
+characters.  As a result, Unicode escapes in raw strings are not treated
+specially.
 
 Bytes literals are always prefixed with ``'b'`` or ``'B'``; they produce an
 instance of the :class:`bytes` type instead of the :class:`str` type.  They
@@ -520,15 +521,6 @@
 escape sequences only recognized in string literals fall into the category of
 unrecognized escapes for bytes literals.
 
-When an ``'r'`` or ``'R'`` prefix is used in a string literal, then the
-``\uXXXX`` and ``\UXXXXXXXX`` escape sequences are processed while *all other
-backslashes are left in the string*. For example, the string literal
-``r"\u0062\n"`` consists of three Unicode characters: 'LATIN SMALL LETTER B',
-'REVERSE SOLIDUS', and 'LATIN SMALL LETTER N'. Backslashes can be escaped with a
-preceding backslash; however, both remain in the string.  As a result,
-``\uXXXX`` escape sequences are only recognized when there is an odd number of
-backslashes.
-
 Even in a raw string, string quotes can be escaped with a backslash, but the
 backslash remains in the string; for example, ``r"\""`` is a valid string
 literal consisting of two characters: a backslash and a double quote; ``r"\"``
Index: Doc/whatsnew/3.0.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/whatsnew/3.0.rst	(revision 62172)
+++ Doc/whatsnew/3.0.rst	(working copy)
@@ -167,6 +167,9 @@
   explicitly convert between them, using the :meth:`str.encode` (str -> bytes)
   or :meth:`bytes.decode` (bytes -> str) methods.
 
+* All backslashes in raw strings are interpreted literally.  This means that
+  Unicode escapes are not treated specially.
+
 .. XXX add bytearray
 
 * PEP 3112: Bytes literals, e.g. ``b"abc"``, create :class:`bytes` instances.
@@ -183,7 +186,9 @@
 * The :mod:`StringIO` and :mod:`cStringIO` modules are gone.  Instead, import
   :class:`io.StringIO` or :class:`io.BytesIO`.
 
+* Unicode escapes in raw strings are not treated specially.
 
+
 PEP 3101: A New Approach to String Formatting
 =============================================