Kerry in Solomon Islands to talk climate change, commemorate bloody Guadalcanal battles

HONIARA, Solomon Islands – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is making a brief visit to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, where he'll meet the tiny nation's leaders and commemorate the ferocious WWII battles fought on Guadalcanal.

Kerry was to see Solomon's Prime Minister Gordon Lilo to discuss sustainable development, ocean preservation and how the islands' 600,000 residents are coping with the effects of climate change. He'll then visit the American Memorial on Guadalcanal and the "Bloody Ridge" battlefield site, where some of the fiercest combat in the Pacific theater took place between American and Japanese forces in September 1942.