hello there, welcome to newsline, it's monday august 15th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. japan is poised to observe the 66th anniversary of world war ii. a memorial service will be held monday to honor those who perished in the war. about 7,200 people including bereaved families are expected to attend. prime minister kan will deliver a speech at the ceremony. following a minute of silence at

no noon, he will make an address. 6 years have passed since the war ended. making bereaved family members an aging group. those 17 or older are expected to exceed 60% of all the attendees. this year's youngest participant will be a 5-year-old boy from okinawa who lost his great grandfather in the war. he will take part in the ceremony with his grandfather and father. a total of 140 people will attend the service. the number of expected participants from the three prefectures is down by 15 compared to last year. prefecture officials say some people in devastated coastal areas cannot attend the ceremony. meanwhile, neither prime minister kan nor his cabinet

ministers will visit the shrine which honors japan's war dead. those enshrined include convicted war criminals from world war ii. the prime minister has said he has no plans to visit the shrine while in office. in line with the cabinet's consensus, he will not visit in an official capacity. a nonpartisan group of legislators who promote visits to the shrine plan to visit there on monday. japanese businesses are using devices to gauge radioactive levels in food. the move comes after cesium tainted beef was found to be distributed throughout the country. aloka medical has developed

a device that almost blocks completely radioactive activity. the firm has received around 200 orders for the equipment. >> translator: there is an increasing demand for monitoring of radioactive levels. we want to develop products that meet the needs of society. >> another company, fuji electric has developed a machine that can measure radioactive substances. the machine quickly displays whether or not products contain radioactive elements that exceed preset levels. demand for these devices is expected to rise as an increasing number of municipalities and food makers are geeshing up to test products for radioactive materials. people returning home for the holidays are looking for their family's belongings in miyagi prefecture. the city has been displaying

items washed away from the tsunami, with the help of volunteers since may. the photo albums, photos, bags and mortuary tablets have been divided up atowarding to the areas where they found. people who evacuated to a remote location visited the venue on sunday. they look closely at the photos that were partially covered by mold or look for names on the bags as they try to find items belonging to relatives or friends. >> i found my father's photo. we've been united at last. newsline is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two segments, offering two unique perspectives. nuclear watch brings insight and impact on the crisis. and the road ahead examine

japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. myanmar's pro-democracy leader made her first political trip since her house arrest ended last november. she visited bago on sunday. senior officials of the national league for democracy which has joined her on the one-day trip. the 66-year-old leader called for unity. she visited another city last month, but did not engage in political activity at that time. the new myanmar government issued a statement on friday saying it will cooperate and enter dialogue with the party. she was put under house arrest in 2003 after making a public speech. the government has apparently decided to allow her political activities for the time being. she's thought to be gauging the

new government's tolerance by making a public appearance. a chinese regional government has promised to remove a harmful chemical from a factory in the northeastern city on sunday. the state run agency earlier reported that thousands of people had gathered in front of city hall, calling for the relocation of the chemical factory that makes a product that's said to cause cancer. the government had agreed to immediately suspend the production of the chemical and quickly remove it in response to the protest. the residents were unaware that the chemical was stored in a tank at the plant until a stay fan destroyed part of a levee raising the danger of leakage. the incident marked a protest by those who were already dissatisfied with the government's dissatisfaction. protesters are shown raising their fists were posted online. calls for disclosure are

growing. the government is stepping up militants to prevent the spread of demonstrations. an attack by militants in the central province of afghanistan killed 22 people and injured 35 others on sunday. afghanistan's interior ministry says a vehicle was detonated north of kabul. after the vehicle exploded. five militants wearing explosive vests entered the build willing and two of them detonated their bombs inside. 22 people including local government officials and police officers were killed in the attack. a spokesperson for the taliban told nhk in a his organization was responsible for the attack. he added that the attack targeted a meeting between afghan government officials and foreign military forces. international forces began

transferring responsibility for security to afghan authorities in july. however, after the start of the transfer, a helicopter belonging to the international forces was shot down by taliban fighters, killing 38 persons, including u.s. soldiers. insurgents have carried out assassinations of leading figures and terror attacks in recent weeks. now, let's take a look at the extended weather forecast for selected cities around the world.

that wraps up this edition of newsline. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.