Jakarta, February 18 (RHC)-- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Indonesia, where he has sought to downplay the reports of spying on Indonesian officials. In Jakarta, Kerry urged Indonesia to take action against climate change, calling it "perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction."

Indonesia is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States. Kerry’s remarks followed a spate of extreme weather that scientists say is fueled by climate change. A snowstorm blanketed parts of the northeastern United States with more than a foot of snow on Saturday, following an earlier winter storm that killed at least 25 people.