diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/InnerXml.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/InnerXml.java
index 3f9860eb7..49e59ab83 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/InnerXml.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/InnerXml.java
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ public class InnerXml implements Function {
             Object o1 = args[0];
             if (o1 != null && o1 instanceof Element) {
                 Element e1 = (Element)o1;
-                if(mode == "xml") {
+                if(mode.equals("xml")) {
                     return e1.children().toString();
-                } else if (mode == "html") {
+                } else if (mode.equals("html")) {
                     return e1.html();
                 } else {
                     return new EvalError(ControlFunctionRegistry.getFunctionName(this) + " unable to determine whether XML or HTML is being used.");
diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/ParseXml.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/ParseXml.java
index 3c5239402..047667f1f 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/ParseXml.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/expr/functions/xml/ParseXml.java
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ public class ParseXml implements Function {
         if (args.length == 1) {
             Object o1 = args[0];
             if (o1 != null && o1 instanceof String) {
-                if (mode == "html") {
+                if (mode.equals("html")) {
                     return Jsoup.parse(o1.toString());
-                } else if (mode == "xml") {
+                } else if (mode.equals("xml")) {
                     return Jsoup.parse(o1.toString(), "",Parser.xmlParser());
                 } else {
                     return new EvalError(ControlFunctionRegistry.getFunctionName(this) + " unable to identify which parser to use");
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/operations/column/ColumnAdditionByFetchingURLsOperationTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/operations/column/ColumnAdditionByFetchingURLsOperationTests.java
index 0338e57c0..91c91b004 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/operations/column/ColumnAdditionByFetchingURLsOperationTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/operations/column/ColumnAdditionByFetchingURLsOperationTests.java
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ public class ColumnAdditionByFetchingURLsOperationTests extends RefineTest {
         String ref_val = (String)project.rows.get(0).getCellValue(1).toString();
         if (ref_val.startsWith("HTTP error"))
             return;
-        Assert.assertTrue(ref_val != "apple"); // just to make sure I picked the right column
+        Assert.assertFalse(ref_val.equals("apple")); // just to make sure I picked the right column
         for (int i = 1; i < 4; i++) {
             System.out.println("value:" + project.rows.get(i).getCellValue(1));
             // all random values should be equal due to caching