Explicitly set UTF8 for the database connection

document_root/index.php

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ $db_config = array('host'      => $db_host,
                    'dbname'    => $db_name);
 
 $db = Nmc_Db::factory('PDO_MYSQL', $db_config);
+$db->query('SET NAMES utf8');
 $db->getProfiler()->setEnabled(true);
 
 Zend_Db_Table::setDefaultAdapter($db);