O2, subcontracted by BT to provide mobile services within the Olympic Village, suffered a glitch this month when a third of its customers were hit by a 24-hour network failure.

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About halfway between San Gimignano and Siena is Monteriggioni, a small medieval village perfectly preserved within its walls, with towers at regular intervals.

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But he quashed the council's registration of the West Beach as a village green because it fell within the Newhaven port area and was "incompatible with the statutory purpose for which the land is held".

BBC: Newhaven Beach

That day I walked away from the waiting women, into the trees and towards the water: the same river that further on curled around the houses, so the village lay within its embrace like a woman in the crook of her lover's arm.

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With variations distinctive to each village, the annual carnival bell ringers' pageant is a way to strengthen bonds within the community and a valuable means of renewing friendships among the towns in the region while integrating newcomers into its traditional culture.

UNESCO: Culture

And on some occasions the supposedly secret bidding looks rigged: in one village west of Paris, five of the six bids for a contract to supply water were within 0.1% of each other.

ECONOMIST: Profit stream