Every building in Sanaa is draped with Yemen's red, white and black flag to mark this democratic event.

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The 2013 blue flag beaches were revealed at an event hosted by Keep Wales Tidy in Rest Bay, Porthcawl.

BBC: Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire

The candidates who participated in this High Level event include current President and flag-bearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, and his main challenger and leader of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

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But Mark Perryman, author of Ingerland: Travels with a Football Nation, and the co-founder of the Philosophy Football T-shirt company, which organised the event, agrees with Bragg that the flag and the football team are among the few things English people have to illustrate their national identity.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | Football - shaping a new England?

Aside from the fact that the leaders from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - who owe their power and freedom to the sacrifices of the US military - participated in the conference, the most notable aspect of the event is that it took place under the UN flag.

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Woodroffe, from Epsom, Surrey, kept the British flag flying and boosted her hopes of receiving more wild cards for the big Eastbourne event next week and Wimbledon a week later but her compatriots Lucie Ahl and Julie Pullin both went out.

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