We investigate the following version of the circle covering problem in strictly convex (normed or) Minkowski planes: to cover a circle of largest possible diameter by $k$ unit circles. In particular, we study the cases $k=3$, $k=4$, and $k=7$. For $k=3$ and $k=4$, the diameters under consideration are described in terms of side-lengths and circumradii of certain inscribed regular triangles or quadrangles. This yields also simple explanations of geometric meanings that the corresponding homothety ratios have. It turns out that basic notions from Minkowski geometry play an essential role in our proofs, namely Minkowskian bisectors, $d$-segments, and the monotonicity lemma.

We show that given a stable weighted configuration on the asymptotic boundary of a locally compact Hadamard space, there is a polygon with Gauss map prescribed by the given weighted configuration. Moreover, the same result holds for semistable configurations on arbitrary Euclidean buildings.

For an integer $n \geq 3$, let $M_n$ be the moduli space of spatial polygons with $n$ edges. We consider the case of odd $n$. Then $M_n$ is a Fano manifold of complex dimension $n-3$. Let $\Theta_{M_n}$ be the sheaf of germs of holomorphic sections of the tangent bundle $TM_n$. In this paper, we prove $H^q (M_n,\Theta_{M_n})=0$ for all $q \geq 0$ and all odd $n$. In particular, we see that the moduli space of deformations of the complex structure on $M_n$ consists of a point. Thus the complex structure on $M_n$ is locally rigid.