neil heywood's name was on a blacklist.e heard from a police chief and a french architect about a villa in france that gu kailai had illegally, and through corruption had obtained. both the police chief said she was unhappy with neil heywood's management of this villa, and he had been demanding 1.4 british pounds in payment. she says that bo xilai was aware of all this, bo xilai is denying that. >> how has bo been today in court, harry? how has he reacted to his wife's testimony after his fighting performance yet? >> reporter: well, he's every bit as vehement and aggressive in his defense as he was yesterday. and he's take nothing prisoners least of all his wife. he says that she's mad, she's under huge mental pressure. perhaps the suspended death sentence is pressuring her into saying these things. he can prove she's mad because she told him that killing neil heywood she felt like a famous chinese assassin who tried to kill the first emperor of china. he said that proves her testimony could not be relied upon. he said that

actually serving a lifetime in death on a suspended sentence for the murder of a businessman among neil heywood. she is under duress there. much speculation has been talked about, that she was put under pressure to testify against bo xilai in the hope that she could have some protection for her son , who has also been implicated in the bribery scandal. quite an interesting day in court. none of the court proceedings have focused on the ring charges against him. this all centers around his wife and the murder investigation l'st happened around nei death in chongqing back in 2011. it has been quite an interesting day. it is not quite finished. we are seeing the charts continue tomorrow as well. >> chinese media has been calling bo ever get than a liar. what prompted that reaction in the press? defense --een his yesterday, that is probably where the arrogance comes from. he denies the bribery actions made against him. the media isn't disagreeing with that. there are several -- there were several witnesses bright yesterday, including his wife, to try to prove that he was involved in these bribery a

. >>> the scandal began in november 2011 with the discovery of the body of neil heywood.o built a national profile as party chief in the southwestern city of chongching. it was a profile that won enemies and friends at the highest level. one reason this trial has taken so long to come to court. it's riven with political activities. >> i think it's all a power struggle. as for his contributions and wrongdoing i don't think he has contributed much. he was quite a leftest advocate, and it may be good for china to put him away in jail. >> reporter: but if he is to be put away and this is his last public hoo raw, he seems to make the most of it. >> zimbabwe's mugabe is sworn for a seventh term in office, and in sport, former number one maria sharapova sends off a shock for organizers at the u.s. open. >> japan's troubled nuclear plant has appealed for help. iit's a move from radioactive leaks. >> these tanks were support to store safely water from cooling reactors, instead it's leaking into unprotected ground into the sea. japan clearly monitors the nra and said it can no long

government to attempt to block the investigation into his wife's murder of british businessman neil heywood's also being charged with taking as much as $3.4 million in bribes. but so far he's contested at least one of the bribery charges against him. with more, let's get out to eunice yoon, who is outside the courthouse in jinan. eunice, give us a sense of what the atmosphere -- i hear that she is not good right now. we'll try to get out to eunice as soon as possible. joining us in the studio is jonathan fenby, co-founder of trusted sources and managing director of the china team. now, he's contested some of the charges and that was to be expected. but and we know that he's extremely media savvy, he's worked in media for a long time. he knows how to play the chinese and maybe even the international media. to what extent do you think he can sway the image? >> i think very properly everything has been decided in advance. waiting for the trial for the best part of a year, and obviously a lot of negotiation going on about this. his defense as far as we have heard it so far and there is an offic

prosecutors have been attempting to link bo xilai to a french villa that the murdered britishman neil heywoodanaged because they want to prove bo is guilty of corruption. they brought in testimony from bo's wife, fresh testimony, as well as a close confidant, but bo, again, just like you were talking about, you know, his performance yesterday, he put up strong dissent. he said the testimony was nonsense, he stressed his wife had mental issues and even suggested she gave her testimony under duress since her leniency in her own case. what was really interesting was the public reaction to his commentary today. people have been combing through the transcripts that were released and talk ing about how this is only circumstantial evidence and that he wasn't actually directly involved. and the effect that is having on the public is that a lot of people have been talking about how he might not deserve a heavy sentence, a sentence that many people had been expecting. >> eunice, thank you for that. >>> still to come on the show, stay tuned for vital data, the second reading of second quarter gdp data i

this scandal and bo's abuse of power charge stem from the 2011 murder of british businessman neil heywood who had been a close business associate of the bo family. bo's wife confessed to killing heywood. she said she killed him to protect her son. other reports speculate it was a feud over money. foreign media were not aloud in the courtroom. so details were pieced together through transcripts. china's courts are controlled by the ruling communist party and have a 98% conviction rate. the state broadcaster reported today that the trial is expected to last two days. with a verdict expected in september. >>> time to show you some of this morning's headlines from around the globe. the national security agency misled the federal court that surveys its surveillance programs. that's according to declassified documents. one of the nsa's surveillance programs gathered tens of thousands of domestic e-mails each year from americans not connected to terrorism. the chief judge at the time found the nsa had violated the constitution. >>> in texas, the paper says closing arguments are expected today in