8国集团领导人同意停止向恐怖分子付赎金

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."

在八国元首即将结束在北爱尔兰举行的两天峰会之际，英国首相卡梅伦赢得了其他领导人的支持，各方同意不再为了让恐怖分子释放人质而支付赎金。在西部非洲特别是尼日利亚等西方石油公司有重大业务的地区，劫持人质事件不断增加。

八国领导人还同意打击跨国公司通过把利润隐藏在海外避税港而逃避缴税的弊端。

然而，在如何应对叙利亚问题上，各国领导人难以找到共同点。忠于叙利亚总统巴沙尔•阿萨德的军队正在与反政府武装进行血腥厮杀。在叙利亚问题上，俄罗斯总统普京和其他领导人之间存在着尖锐的分歧。

俄罗斯总统普京向叙利亚政府运送武器，而美国总统奥巴马最近批准向反政府武装提供军事援助。两位总统星期一会晤了两个小时，但只是同意叙利亚冲突必须结束。

普京后来承认说，“我们的意见当然没有交集”，而奥巴马则说，他们两人有“不同视角”。