NOTE - THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO BE AN ISSUE IN 1.7.4

When returning to my spawn point via nether portal from a village I have over 2km away, I eventually see the following:

• When opening chests, while the chest contents are still displayed, the chest closing sound plays. When leaving the chest contents interface, the chest appears to stay open. Note that if using a chest takes place quickly enough, the chest closing animation will occur as expected when leaving the chest contents screen. Does not seem to affect ender chests.
• A pressure plate that would normally open a door does not function
• Blocks can be placed, but when attempting to destroy them, the breakdown animation occurs but the block re-appears after being "destroyed". No block entity is dropped.

The issue is resolved by leaving the current world to the Minecraft title screen and starting the game again.

The issue does not seem to occur if I leave my spawn point through my portal and then return through the portal. Seems that I have to travel a certain distance and return before the issues occur.

I have not tried approaching my spawn point by foot to see if the issue occurs in the same way.