Mark Karpeles, arrested in Japan after his bitcoin exchange collapsed from massive hacking, is starting a new business around the same computer technology that __52__ his legal troubles. Karpeles told reporters that he wants to make Japan a global leader in blockchain, the technology behind virtual money like bitcoin. The 34-year-old Frenchman __53__ embezzlement and fraud allegations in March, but is appealing a conviction for manipulating electronic data. Karpeles was arrested in 2015, and spent11 months__ 54___ . Karpeles received a suspended sentence, meaning he is not serving jail time. Prosecutors had demanded 10 years in prison. His lawyer Nobuyasu Ogata said the verdict highlights legal uncertainties in the new area of cryptocurrency crime.

 The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment that reduces the minimum prison sentence for growing marijuana for personal use from five years to one year and lowered the fine from NT$5 million to NT$1 million. Before the change in the law was made, the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條 例) stipulated that people __55__ guilty of cultivating marijuana with "intentions to supply for manufacturing narcotics" faced a minimum sentence of five years in prison and could also result in a fine of up to NT$5 million. However, because the cultivation of cannabis covers a wide range, Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 790 in 2020 ruled that the penalties for growing marijuana for personal use failed to meet the principle of proportional punishment __56__ stipulated in the Constitution. Citing the ruling, the Cabinet in March 2021 proposed a revision to the act to impose appropriate punishment for planting marijuana that is commensurate with the crime. A new article stated that those who grow the plant for personal use and__ 57__ the "circumstances are minor" should be sentenced to a minimum prison sentence of one year and a maximum of seven years and a fine of __58__ NT$1 million. On Tuesday, the third reading of the amendment passed the Legislative Yuan without any objections by any legislators present.

      The linkages between terrorism and organized crime are multifaceted and can manifest themselves in different ways. Generally speaking, terrorist groups and organized crime groups (OCGs) have in theory distinct objectives. Terrorist groups deliberately challenge State authority and seek to produce political change through violent means； their motivations are related to several factors, including, but not limited to ideological ones. OCGs on the other hand typically engage in secret operations so as to obtain a financial or other material benefit while avoiding detection by law enforcement authorities. Rather than aiming to effect political change, the disruption they seek to impose on territories under State authority is meant to perpetuate conditions that are beneficial to their operations.

     In practical terms, the linkages between terrorism and organized crime become apparent most notably in the financing of terrorism. In other cases, these linkages may involve the smuggling of migrants and illicit arms trafficking involving small arms, light weapons and other military equipment, car theft, illicit mineral extraction, kidnapping for ransom, drug trafficking, trafficking in other illicit goods. Instances involving OCGs facilitating the transport of terrorists across borders activities also represent possible scenarios where these two phenomena become intertwined.