diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 92eee3abdb..dfc07c1e15 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-* V1.12.1.1 
-  * started new version
+* V1.12.2
+  * fixed UTF-8 problem with README.md in setup.py
 
 * V1.12.1
   * added first draft of the docs in the Sphinx format
diff --git a/ck/kernel.py b/ck/kernel.py
index 8e71a2e688..85e6525c1a 100755
--- a/ck/kernel.py
+++ b/ck/kernel.py
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 # For example, we implemented some functions in Java, C, C++ and Fortran
 # (see our xOpenME library used in Android)
 
-__version__ = "1.12.1.1"  # We use 3 digits for the main (released) version and 4th digit for development revision
-                          # Do not use characters (to detect outdated version)!
+__version__ = "1.12.2"  # We use 3 digits for the main (released) version and 4th digit for development revision
+                        # Do not use characters (to detect outdated version)!
 
 # Extra modules global for the whole kernel
 import sys
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6742b2c332..0b1f808476 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def run(self):
 
   description='Collective Knowledge - lightweight knowledge manager to organize, cross-link, share and reuse artifacts and workflows',
 
-  long_description=open(convert_path('./README.md')).read(),
+  long_description=open(convert_path('./README.md'), encoding="utf-8").read(),
   long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
 
   packages=['ck'],