diff --git a/icu/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu4jni/util/Resources.java b/icu/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu4jni/util/Resources.java
index 66bfdfb..53be6ab 100644
--- a/icu/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu4jni/util/Resources.java
+++ b/icu/src/main/java/com/ibm/icu4jni/util/Resources.java
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
         } else if (country.length() > 0) {
             result.overrideWithDataFrom(getLocaleData(new Locale(language, "", "")));
         } else if (language.length() > 0) {
-            result.overrideWithDataFrom(getLocaleData(new Locale("", "", "")));
+            result.overrideWithDataFrom(getLocaleData(Locale.ROOT));
         }
         // Override with data from this locale.
         result.overrideWithDataFrom(initLocaleData(locale));
diff --git a/luni/src/main/java/java/lang/String.java b/luni/src/main/java/java/lang/String.java
index 1556389..eb9b17b 100644
--- a/luni/src/main/java/java/lang/String.java
+++ b/luni/src/main/java/java/lang/String.java
@@ -1202,6 +1202,16 @@
     native public String intern();
 
     /**
+     * Returns true if the length of this string is 0.
+     * 
+     * @since 1.6
+     * @hide
+     */
+    public boolean isEmpty() {
+        return count == 0;
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Searches in this string for the last index of the specified character.
      * The search for the character starts at the end and moves towards the
      * beginning of this string.
diff --git a/luni/src/main/java/java/util/Locale.java b/luni/src/main/java/java/util/Locale.java
index ec36fcf..9b35a0f 100644
--- a/luni/src/main/java/java/util/Locale.java
+++ b/luni/src/main/java/java/util/Locale.java
@@ -157,6 +157,15 @@
     public static final Locale PRC = new Locale("zh", "CN"); //$NON-NLS-1$//$NON-NLS-2$
 
     /**
+     * Locale constant for the root locale. The root locale has an empty language,
+     * country, and variant.
+     * 
+     * @since 1.6
+     * @hide
+     */
+    public static final Locale ROOT = new Locale("", "", "");
+
+    /**
      * Locale constant for zh_CN.
      */
     public static final Locale SIMPLIFIED_CHINESE = new Locale("zh", "CN"); //$NON-NLS-1$//$NON-NLS-2$
diff --git a/tools/runner/expectations.txt b/tools/runner/expectations.txt
index 4c9f8e1..0ea91d0 100644
--- a/tools/runner/expectations.txt
+++ b/tools/runner/expectations.txt
@@ -685,10 +685,6 @@
 
 
 # We don't expose Java 6 APIs
-test java.lang.String.IsEmpty
-result COMPILE_FAILED
-pattern .*cannot find symbol.*method isEmpty\(\).*
-
 test java.lang.String.Exceptions
 result COMPILE_FAILED
 pattern .*cannot find symbol.*new String.*