8國集團領導人同意停止向恐怖分子付贖金

Leaders from the G8 nations have agreed to end ransom payments to terrorists holding hostages, but struggled to reach a consensus on how to deal with the two-year Syrian conflict.

As the G8 heads of state neared the end of their two-day summit in Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister David Cameron won agreement to stop making payments for the release of hostages. Hostage-taking has increased in West Africa, especially in Nigeria, where Western oil companies have prominent operations.

The G8 leaders also agreed to fight the "scourge" of tax evasion to ensure that multinational companies cannot hide their profits in overseas tax shelters.

But the leaders were struggling to reach common ground on how to deal with the deadly warfare in Syria between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels opposed to his government. There were sharp divisions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the other leaders.

Mr. Putin, who is shipping more weapons to the Syrian government, and U.S. President Barack Obama, who has agreed to arm the rebels, met for two hours Monday, but only agreed that the conflict must end.

Later, the Russian leader acknowledged, "Of course our opinions do not converge," while Mr. Obama said the two men had "different perspectives."八國集團領導人同意停止向劫持人質的恐怖分子支付贖金的做法，但是在如何應對持續了兩年的敘利亞內戰的問題上，八國峯會難以達成共識。

在八國元首即將結束在北愛爾蘭舉行的兩天峯會之際，英國首相卡梅倫贏得了其他領導人的支持，各方同意不再爲了讓恐怖分子釋放人質而支付贖金。在西部非洲特別是尼日利亞等西方石油公司有重大業務的地區，劫持人質事件不斷增加。

八國領導人還同意打擊跨國公司通過把利潤隱藏在海外避稅港而逃避繳稅的弊端。

然而，在如何應對敘利亞問題上，各國領導人難以找到共同點。忠於敘利亞總統巴沙爾•阿薩德的軍隊正在與反政府武裝進行血腥廝殺。在敘利亞問題上，俄羅斯總統普京和其他領導人之間存在着尖銳的分歧。

俄羅斯總統普京向敘利亞政府運送武器，而美國總統奧巴馬最近批准向反政府武裝提供軍事援助。兩位總統星期一會晤了兩個小時，但只是同意敘利亞衝突必須結束。

普京後來承認說，“我們的意見當然沒有交集”，而奧巴馬則說，他們兩人有“不同視角”。