diff --git a/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/JiraClient.java b/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/JiraClient.java
index 6511ba3..6c8beb0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/JiraClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/JiraClient.java
@@ -337,6 +337,66 @@ public class JiraClient {
         return username;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Obtains the list of all projects in Jira.
+     * @return all projects; not all data is returned for each project; to get
+     * the extra data use {@link #getProject(String)}
+     * @throws JiraException failed to obtain the project list.
+     */
+    public List<Project> getProjects() throws JiraException {
+        try {
+            URI uri = restclient.buildURI(Resource.getBaseUri() + "project");
+            JSON response = restclient.get(uri);
+            JSONArray projectsArray = JSONArray.fromObject(response);
 
+            List<Project> projects = new ArrayList<Project>(projectsArray.size());
+            for (int i = 0; i < projectsArray.size(); i++) {
+                JSONObject p = projectsArray.getJSONObject(i);
+                projects.add(new Project(restclient, p));
+            }
+
+            return projects;
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            throw new JiraException(ex.getMessage(), ex);
+        }
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Obtains information about a project, given its project key.
+     * @param key the project key
+     * @return the project
+     * @throws JiraException failed to obtain the project
+     */
+    public Project getProject(String key) throws JiraException {
+        try {
+            URI uri = restclient.buildURI(Resource.getBaseUri() + "project/" + key);
+            JSON response = restclient.get(uri);
+            return new Project(restclient, (JSONObject) response);
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            throw new JiraException(ex.getMessage(), ex);
+        }
+    }
+    
+    /**
+     * Obtains the list of all issue types in Jira.
+     * @return all issue types
+     * @throws JiraException failed to obtain the issue type list.
+     */
+    public List<IssueType> getIssueTypes() throws JiraException {
+        try {
+            URI uri = restclient.buildURI(Resource.getBaseUri() + "issuetype");
+            JSON response = restclient.get(uri);
+            JSONArray issueTypeArray = JSONArray.fromObject(response);
+
+            List<IssueType> issueTypes = new ArrayList<IssueType>(issueTypeArray.size());
+            for (int i = 0; i < issueTypeArray.size(); i++) {
+                JSONObject it = issueTypeArray.getJSONObject(i);
+                issueTypes.add(new IssueType(restclient, it));
+            }
+
+            return issueTypes;
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            throw new JiraException(ex.getMessage(), ex);
+        }
+    }
 }
-
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/RestClient.java b/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/RestClient.java
index 1bbc1b9..acd230c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/RestClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/rcarz/jiraclient/RestClient.java
@@ -32,8 +32,11 @@ import net.sf.json.JSON;
 import net.sf.json.JSONObject;
 import net.sf.json.JSONSerializer;
 
+import org.apache.http.Header;
+import org.apache.http.HeaderElement;
 import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
 import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
+import org.apache.http.NameValuePair;
 import org.apache.http.StatusLine;
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpDelete;
@@ -125,8 +128,24 @@ public class RestClient {
         StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
 
         if (ent != null) {
-            InputStreamReader isr =  ent.getContentEncoding() != null ?
-                new InputStreamReader(ent.getContent(), ent.getContentEncoding().getValue()) :
+            String encoding = null;
+            if (ent.getContentEncoding() != null) {
+            	encoding = ent.getContentEncoding().getValue();
+            }
+            
+            if (encoding == null) {
+    	        Header contentTypeHeader = resp.getFirstHeader("Content-Type");
+    	        HeaderElement[] contentTypeElements = contentTypeHeader.getElements();
+    	        for (HeaderElement he : contentTypeElements) {
+    	        	NameValuePair nvp = he.getParameterByName("charset");
+    	        	if (nvp != null) {
+    	        		encoding = nvp.getValue();
+    	        	}
+    	        }
+            }
+            
+            InputStreamReader isr =  encoding != null ?
+                new InputStreamReader(ent.getContent(), encoding) :
                 new InputStreamReader(ent.getContent());
             BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
             String line = "";