Heavy sentence for peddler of pirated DVDs, games and other brief reports
* A Roodepoort trader was sentenced by the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court to SAs most severe anti-piracy sentence yesterday with a fine of R400 000 or eight years in jail, partially suspended, after being caught with 400 pirated DVDs and PlayStation games he was selling in flea markets and on the street. Safact, a trade lobby, says at least half of all DVDs sold in SA are illegal, pirated copies. Business Day
* The Gauteng and North West land claims commission said yesterday it was ready to meet the deadline for settlement of claims. All but 58 urban claims in Gauteng already have been settled, said Commissioner Blessing Mphela. The deadline for settlement of urban claims was March 31, and December 31 for rural claims, he said. News24 * The Bronkhorstspruit Regional Court in Pretoria has postponed to March 11 for further investigation the case of Sarah van Rooyen, who is accused of cashing in a friend\'s winning lottery ticket worth R23.7m. Her R1 000 bail was extended. Daily Dispatch * Colm Murphy (51), the only man jailed for the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people is to face a re-trial after winning his appeal against his conviction in Dublin. Murphy was jailed for 14 years in 2002 on a charge of conspiring to cause an explosion in August 1998, the date of the Real IRA attack in the Co Tyrone town. The Independent