♪ >> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: the cia has played a pivotal role against terrorism. the mission has often required balancing national security against core american values. agency who had led the have faced some of the most somber decisions in history. cia in the crosshairs is a new documentary. it features interviews with all 12 living cia directors and their operatives. here is the trailer. >> everything we hold dear was at risk. >> we were at war.

every lead lead nowhere. it was frustrating. >> we were asked to do very hard things. >> we can let the terrorists thrive or we can disrupt the plans. >> if some future president is going to decide to waterboard, he better bring his own bucket. charlie: joining me now are the filmmakers. chris is the writer and executive producer. jules and gideon body directors. i've i pleased to have been at this table. great to have you here. how did this project and underway? >> as journalists and documentary filmmakers, you see a closed door and you want to open it. we had done the chiefs of staff, the men who keep the president's secrets. we thought that these are the guys. the cia directors keep the nation's secrets.

it is important to know, this is not a history of the cia. this is the story of 12 men who led the most powerful intelligence agency in the world. it is a very human story. the table, around and we were constructing the arc of this film, we agreed early on that every act should be an ethical dilemma. because everyone faces life and death decisions. every day. charlie: was there a common thread among them? yes, i think they are patriots. >> patriots. that is a given. you don't get the job if they are not. for me, the humanity. normally you see the cia in stark terms. the first meeting that we had, general hayden told us that he said the american public is bipolar when it comes to the cia. we are either seen as jack bauer

or jack the ripper. >> want people are missing is that there is gray in the middle. these are human beings who struggle with tough decisions. we learned that they are in charge. charlie: it is never black and white? it is never obvious. >> never. i think it comes back to our previous documentary. if it is easy then someone else will make the decision. they always get between the hard and the hardest. charlie: was it tough to get them? >> it was a challenge. it was a war of attrition. there was one director after another, we kept her week, we -- week after week, we were lucky to get george h.w. bush first, he is revered by everyone at the cia. charlie: he said to me it was his second favorite job. >> exactly, and probably close second. george tenet was the last holdout. these are the -- talk about a

shakespearean character. charlie: how is he shakespearean? >> imagine if you had, on your watch, the attacks of 9/11, the enhanced interrogation program , which many called torture, and then weapons of mass destruction? charlie: so, he was criticized? >> yes. this was a guy who faced life and death decisions but also decisions that changed the course of history. fascinating. david petraeus was another shakespearean character. talk about a fall from grace. charlie: sure. >> it is a remarkable cast of characters. some of the most interesting characters in the film where the operatives and analysts. gina bennett, probably one of the women who inspired the jessica chastain character in "zero dark 30."

fascinating. , he's a character right out of the maltese falcon. he is a straight shooter. he helped the french corral carlos the jackal. he later became head of the counterterrorism center. he was one of those who warned that al qaeda was coming prior to 9/11. charlie: what did he say? picture thatlling he paints, and george tenet -- paints come in the months preceding now 11. -- preceding 9/11. >> the information that we have now compiled was compelling. it was multiple sourced. it was the last stroke. straw. we had top the phone, go see the director now. george tenet is a very smart guy. he is chewing on his cigar. he is going back and forth and his eyes are flashing. >> it isn't just red lights.

these are real plots being manifested. >> the threat continues to rise. public pronouncements by people in al qaeda was that there would be eight major celebrations coming. they world would be stunned by what would happen. >> we decided the next thing to do was to call the white house and say we were coming there right now. >> i said connie, i have to see you. we are coming right now. >> present at the july 10 white house meeting is condoleezza rice and other top officials. >> there will be significant terrorist attacks coming in the next weeks. the attacks will be spectacular , they may be multiple. al qaeda's intention is the destruction of the united dates. >> i said that this country has to go on a war footing now.

i slammed my hand on the table. charlie: doesn't get any more dramatic than this. >> these are great storytellers. rodriguez.jose what we loved about those thectors, they present -- air prospective. they really provide the sense of immediacy. as they are doing that day in and day out. all of them are fascinating characters to tell these meaningful stories. charlie: was it hard to get -- to come on board? >> i think he liked the film. we sent him the script, and we sent the rough cut. he called us back and said, yes, i'm ready. charlie: did he talk about homeland? >> very much so. >> he was deeply affected what

had happened. the story of the gravities. and how all of the controversy about the show being unfair to arab muslims. he very much wanted to set the record straight. when we had dinner with him in berlin -- charlie: you are filming for "homeland'? >> yes. we managed to invite the three artists for dinner and he wanted to speak with them, hear their grievances, and talk about how the show should be different. we thought it was extraordinary. it was so open. charlie: the film itself, how would you characterize it? is this a sense of how the cia tries to figure out who it is and what it is about? >> for me, it is a couple of things.

first and foremost, perhaps the , overarching theme is how far should this agency go to protect america. what are the rules of engagement? does the cia go far enough, does it go too far? that is number one. the other part that is equally fascinating to me is the humanity. charlie: the humanity. >> the humanity of these 12 guys. i will give you an example. when we started the program we had no idea that this would become act one. -- but when down leon panetta sat down and described rest, minute for-minute detail, the ethical development he faced as cia were when he was at the funeral for one of his young officers, elizabeth hanson in arlington cemetery -- he gets word from the cia operations center that they have in the crosshairs of a drone, the mastermind of the

suicide bombing that killed this woman and six other officers. charlie: the dr. who got inside and -- >> the jordanian doctor who had been vetted by intelligence but turned out to be an al qaeda sky -- spy. it was the worst day in recent cia history. the truck bombing in beirut. charlie: continue the story. >> he gets word that they have this guy who is a really bad guy. the mastermind of the operation. but there are women and children in the shot. as he put it. ordinarily, he says when there are women and children, we don't take the shot. so he wrestled with this. he is a devout catholic. a former altar boy. he always carries his rosary beads. he says is hail marys when he faces a tough decision. he walked us through that iocess, and you can see

think, the agony he went through making the decision. i don't know if you are me to want me to tell you what the decision was. but it was a life and death situation. panetta, interestingly, has been around, he was shocked by the extent to which the cia director had to make life and death decisions every day. ♪

charlie: i want to talk about enhanced interrogation, a classic discussion that is back in american politics because donald trump yesterday said that we ought to bring waterboarding back because of what isis is doing. take a look at this, number two, this clip. here it is. >> under cia supervision, dtd's -- detainees would be slapped and grabbed, deprived of sleep, forced onto liquid diets. even confined in a coffin like box with live insects. >> there was nudity. water dousing. cramped confinement and stress positioning. >> then there was the infamous technique -- waterboarding. >> the body responds as if the

body thinks it is drowning. am i happy that we had to do it? of course not. >> the president looked at the techniques and i do not know what techniques were taken off the table. i do not know, nor do i recall which ones were taken off of the table. there are some inside the cia who have grave doubts. >> there were a number of those techniques that i personally felt were inappropriate. not necessary. beyond the pale. i was a senior officer at the time, and i had expressed my discomfort and my concerns about these techniques, believing that

they were going to come back to haunt the cia. i did that with individuals, colleagues at the agency. charlie: we were just talking about waterboarding. your point was? >> khalid sheikh mohammed, for example -- really bad guy killer , of daniel pearl. charlie: he boasts about that to this day. >> right. he has not too much of a problem with waterboarding. over 5-10 sessions, over 183 times being doused with water. he knew that the cia would stop after 10 seconds. he would count. they would see his hand counting , and then he would look at them and say, ok. but what really got him was sleep deprivation. for most of them, that was

really what worked. charlie: why is that? >> the body breaks down. michaelink it was hayden who says, the point of the enhanced interrogation is to ring them to the zone of cooperation. they don't ask questions when they are doing it. it is not like movies. they waterboard them, they bring them to that moment where they give up. between the lack of sleep, the temperatures, you don't know where you are and then you start , because -- they start to talk, because they can't take it. >> what's happening now is what happened in paris, when we did the interviews a couple of months ago, they all were saying about isis, when the bad guy tells you they are going to come here and get you, you better believe it. the claimant that they were seeing right before one happened , in paris, it was the pre-9/11 climate where we did not really believe them. and right now, the question we are facing, and the french is

facing, of waking up and saying, ok we need to implement. charlie: it has often been said that they has said they were going to do it, they laid out the plan, and then they did it. did you come out with a sense of what kind of interrogation works? other than enhanced. >> we came away that there is absolutely passionate disagreement among the directors, the so-called wartime directors, who followed 9/11, george tenet, mike hayden, even mike morel, who was acting director and also under obama, will all tell you. he put it succinctly. he said there's absolutely no doubt in his mind that enhanced interrogation techniques saved lives, disrupted plots and took , al qaeda combatants off the field. on the other hand, you have the other directors passionately opposed to torture.

david petraeus will to you that -- who is hardly a bleeding heart, who had more detainees than anybody in iraq, thousands of them -- will tell you that the most effective way of interrogating is that it takes time and skill, but the most effective way is to become their best friend. >> it is interesting to see, even leon panetta -- he does say at the end, you know. hold on. if there is a scenario with a nuclear bomb in new york city. we have the guy who knows. it is very hard not to try everything at your disposal to get it. so they all say they are against it but there is a caveat. charlie: the interesting argument about that, which they do not necessarily close the circle, is that they say that

people who are tortured will say anything, just to stop the torture. on the other hand, you don't have time to be the guy's best friend if you heard the bomb is going to go off in 24 hours. >> that is george tenet's point. day for say, every three years after 9/11 we would , face the threat of a ticking time bomb. there were credible threats that bin laden had met with nuclear scientists. there was credible intelligence that there was a bomb in new york city. no bomb was ever found. --et would say this it was this was a ticking time bomb situation. >> that's the difference, in between these two camps, the wartime directors and the others. as george tenet and others said, until you were there at the meetings, every single day, having these horrible report of

what is coming, how they are going to get us, and where and when, it is hard to judge what they did at the time. charlie: it wasn't just the men and women in the field who were doing this sort of, what we would imagine from movies about spying. analysts,really smart back at langley, putting two and two together. >> absolutely. especially for the bin laden cell, named after the son of the leader of the unit -- they were mostly women. they were called the sisterhood. and they were the incredible force behind these analysts. just like gina bennett. a mother of five who would been at the cia since the 1990's. and these are the people -- that is where you have the parallel with "homeland." although michael hayden would

me, carrie was working for minus the drugs and sex and bipolar -- but the level of passion and addiction to the work, that is what drove them day in and day out to amass these mountains of information. need analytical minds, brilliant ones, and these were the great women behind it. in the shadows, they are responsible for the analytical work. these are the women who helped. >> you've also put your finger on a critical issue. we called it a battle for the soul of the cia. it is really a battle among the directors about what the issue -- mission of the cia should be. has the cia become seduced by covert paramilitary operations, that it has neglected the analytical side? robert gates was eloquent on this. he said, imagine how different

the world would be if we hadn't gone into iraq. if they had gotten weapons of mass destruction right? and we had not invaded iraq. this is the kind of stuff we used to be really good at. but when you focus too much on covert military operations and drone strikes, you pay a price by neglecting the analytical side. charlie: the movie is called the "the spymaster's: cia", 80 years on saturday, this saturday at 9:00 on showtime. it is an extraordinary film. thank you for coming. good to see you guys. back in a moment. stay with us. ♪ sure, tv has evolved over the years.

it's gotten squarer. brighter. bigger. it's gotten thinner.

even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. charlie: sir tom jones is here, he is known simply as the voice. his full throated, unmistakable singing has helped him sell more than 100 million records and lots of hits in the united states alone. he is a wide range voice with the force of an entire brass section, or possibly a wind tunnel distilled into a single instrument. he has now written a book that chronicles his career. "over the top and back." he has also just released an

album. here is tom jones, performing elvis presley blues from his new album, long-lost suitcase. tom: ♪ i was thinking that night about elvis the day that he died the day that he died i was thinking that night about elvis the day that he died the day that he died just a country boy that combed his hair he put on a shirt his mother made and he went on the air and he shook it like a chorus girl and he shook it like a harlem queen

he shook it like a midnight rambler baby like you never seen, you never seen i was thinking that night about elvis the day that he died, day that he died. i was thinking that night about elvis the day that he died day that he died how he took it all out of black-and-white grabbed his wand in the other hand and he held on tight and he shook it like a hurricane he shook it like to make it break he shook it like a holy roller baby

with his soul at stake, his soul at stake i was thinking that night about elvis the day that he died the day that he died i was thinking that tonight about elvis the day that he died the day that he died he was all alone in a long decline think how happy he was when he laid down and died and he shook it and he rang like silver he shook it and he shines like gold he shook it and he beat that steam drill, baby well bless my soul, what's wrong

bless my soul. well bless my soul what is wrong with me ♪ charlie: i am pleased to have sir tom jones at this table for the first time and what an honor it is. welcome. tom: thank you. charlie: music began for you when you heard rock around the clock? tom: that is when i heard of rock 'n roll. i was singing since i was a child. i was born in 1940. my mother said i could sing before i could walk. she used to carry me in a welsh fashion.

the women in wales strapped the baby to the chest so she could get on with the housework. apparently, my sister, who is 6-year-old are then me was a calm child and when music would come on the radio when i was a baby in this shawl, i would start to move. my mother wondered what she had given birth to. charlie: did you have tuberculous? >> when i was 12. i was bedridden from age 12-14. charlie: bedridden? tom: bedridden. i stayed home. because when they discovered that i had it, there were these tb hospitals in scotland and switzerland.

they wanted to send me there and -- charlie: they were sanitariums, weren't they? tom: exactly. my mother made me well. we lived in a three-story house and they put me in a room on the middle floor. my mother was up and down the stairs all day because the doctor said, he can't worry about anything. thing.is the worst don't let him worry about anything. she took it to heart and she nursed me through it. charlie: you have said an interesting thing to me and i'll tell you why. you said to be great in music you have to have young ears. tom: yes. to keep them open. to hear new sounds. there are some people who have been in the business for as long as i have and they say, it is not like it used to be. it's all changed now.

but it hasn't really. you still have to get up in front of a microphone and sing. i have always kept my ears open. i have always been interested in new sounds and new singers. an oldieant to be but goodie. i want to still be in the ring. i am proud of the records i have made. at the time they were made they were very good records. they stand the test of time. but i don't want to live in the past. i don't want to go on the road and say, oh, i will do the greatest hits forever. charlie: how do you take care of your voice? tom: i drink plenty of water, get eight hours of sleep as possible. alcohol.n tehe i have never gotten into drugs. alcohol -- you have to be careful. everything in moderation. i have learned that over the years.

charlie: how many dates do you do each year? tom: i used to do about 200 each year. some years were more shows than others. but i did a european tour in june and july and august. that was packed for three months. so i am always singing somewhere. charlie: are you happiest when you are singing? tom: definitely. i don't know what life is like without it. ave always sung since i was child. to take that away for me, i wouldn't know what to do. charlie: who's influenced you? tom: a lot of black singers. the malia jackson was the first gospel singer i heard and i went to a presbyterian chapel.

we used to do a song called "the old rugged cross." i always loved that song. then i heard her sing it and i wondered why we don't do it like that. then again, she must have rubbed off on me. singers asl well. because when i was in school, i saying the lord's prayer one day and the teacher said, why are you singing this like an old negro spiritual? and i said, i don't know what that is. i am singing it the way i want to. charlie: were you influenced by elvis presley? tom: definitely. elvis was doing what i was doing. he was reassuring me. charlie: what is the biggest arena you have ever played in? tom: i did some county fairs in the early 1970's. they were like 50,000 people.

i had a quarter of a million people -- when i was with in australia, -- charlie: what brought you two together? tom: i don't know. charlie: he was at the table not long ago and he drew an amazing response from young people that were devoted to him. tom: yes. we went to australia for the football and that was a big stadium. charlie: take a look at this. >> ♪ women and girls ruled my world. i said they ruled my world >> ♪ act your age now mama >> ♪ baby you could be mine

♪ >> ♪ you don't have to be rich to be my girl you don't have to be cool to rule my world i just want your extra time ♪ ladies and gentlemen, ed sheeran. charlie: where did delilah come from? >> a man who cowrote the song. i had been friendly with le and heated the arrangements on the green grass of home.

he took the ding i was looking for a new song and he came up with delilah. charlie: here it is. tom: ♪ my, my, my delilah why, why, why delilah i could see that girl was no good for me but i was lost like a slave that no man could free ♪ charlie: how many undergarments did you get thrown in after singing that? tom: quite a few. that started in new york. charlie: how did that affect you?

not in terms of someone who through something. but in terms of saying to the world, this is one of the sex symbols of our time? tom: the initial thing with the underwear was the coco cabana. i was standing on the same level and they were giving me table napkins because i was sweating a lot. this woman stood up and lifted it and went like this. be careful you don't catch a club. singing in clubs in south wales, whatever happens, you turn it into your advantage. charlie: working men's clubs? tom: yes, miners, and their wives and girlfriends, exactly. if someone throws a bottle at you, you drink it and say thank

you. it caught up with me as time went on. they would bring them in their handbags. there's tom jones, let's throw underwear at him. that is not the reason why i was there. i was there singing. charlie: but it did create an image. tom: it backfired. i became a knicker magnet. i never meant it to be. it caught up with me. ♪ tom: ♪ shoot me right i'm going to like the way you fight now you have found the secret code i use to wash away my lonely blues so i can't deny that i only want to make me fly ♪

charlie: when will you say, you have had enough or will you die on stage? tom: i will die on stage. charlie: what is your biggest passion outside of music? tom: good question. i don't really have one. performing. charlie: elvis came over to you and asked how do you thing like that? tom: yes, when i first met him. it was at panama city is. they said elvis is here today and he wants to say hello. elvis was walking towards me singing with his hands. i thought, if the boys back home could see me now. i used to sing a lot of elvis presley songs. i said, i will meet elvis one day.

the fellows used to say, tom, please. so when i was shaking his hand, all of these guys faces were flashing in front of me. it was tremendous. and we were friends from 1965 up until about two years before he died. then he started pushing everybody away from him. charlie: american blues had a big influence? tom: definitely. aboute: jagger has talked the influence. tom: everybody in the 1960's, which i started off in, we all started with blues music. van morrison, the beatles, the rolling stones. all of us, of a certain age, the same age of john lennon. we all listen to that. but then, it came about -- bb king said that if it wasn't for the british rock bands, the blues might have died.

but they brought it and sold it back to america. charlie: because they love the musicality. tom: yes. and the kids, they asked who influenced me. i said big bill brunesy and they said, who? charlie: it really is, it is america's natural music. tom: of course, it is born in america. i was brought up looking at listening to american movies. all of those movies were made in america. we had them in great britain. charlie: you were on the same wavelength as frank sinatra. too.wo were friends, tom: yes. when i was in las vegas at the same time as elvis presley and

frank sinatra, i recorded an album called "from the heart." it was a bunch of standards that i did with big arrangements. and elvis bought it and i asked what do you think? he said, we don't do that. we leave that to frank. don't go there. and i said, i like that. and he said yes, but don't record it. don't do it. stick with me. and when i saw frank sinatra, he would say, forget the rock 'n roll. you are a great jazz singer. you could really get into some jazz. i said yes, i like doing it all. so i was in a position where frank sinatra was trying to push me one way and elvis presley was pulling me another way. what a position to be in. being pulled by two of the greatest singers ever. charlie: what was it about sinatra? tom: i think it was the tone of his voice. he had a demanding tone. he was a very good singer. i learned to appreciate frank

sinatra later on. because rock 'n roll in the 1950's hit me hard. when that came in, i thought all of the other stuff is old-fashioned. but when you get older and you realize more about music, frank sinatra started to make a lot of sense to me. then i started to watch a lot of his old movies. there was one song, when he did "old man river" in a musical, and you hear how great his voice was. he had a quality and he set a trend. singers after that wanted to sound like frank sinatra. charlie: in the 1980's, things slow down. tom: i got complacent. not meaning to.

because of the success that i have had in the 1960's into the early 1970's, i was playing arenas in america throughout the 1970's into the 1980's, trying to get songs but they were not coming my way. and i thought, maybe they won't. maybe i will wait until a song comes. so i was playing places that maybe i shouldn't have been in. that is why, in the book, i was playing in a place where they had weddings in the daytime at singers at night. my son was working the lights for me. and he was trying to get the spotlight through chandeliers that were hanging there from the afternoon. and to be honest, my son made me aware. he said, do you really want to play in these places? i said yeah, you are right. he made me aware. charlie: so, you did what?

tom: when my manager died, my original manager, there was a musical written by two british writers. they sent over these songs to l.a. and they said they had been looking for a singer to sing these songs and they had gone to an opera singer but they were too operatic and then they tried with pop singers but they didn't have the range. so they said, it comes down to you. so i said, ok. i was listening to it and meanwhile, gordon mills had cancer and he died and my son and my daughter-in-law just took over. my son had been working with the and he knew me better than anyone else. he listen to the songs and mark, my son, he said, why do we bring

them to l.a. and try it. charlie: you're a family man, aren't you? tom: yeah. wife has been with you for 58 years. tom: yes. i was almost 17 and she was just 16 when we got married. charlie: how does she feel about the sex symbol thing? tom: she saw a when we were kids. i would be singing at school. i come from a large family and linda would come to see me at birthday parties and weddings. so she knew that i was aiming for that. i knew i could do it and she said -- when i went to london, i met with gordon mills and she knew him from television. she knew he was a man who could do something. charlie: richard burton was

welsh, wasn't he? did you meet him? tom: i met him twice. i was in berlin -- no, munich in 1968 at the equivalent of the academy awards and with henry mancini, we did cabaret. and richard burton sent a note back and said would you like to have dinner. and he was there with elizabeth taylor. and they sat me in the middle and i was like -- charlie: what did you talk about? tom: he was talking about wales. he was so welsh. you should read his diary. he was there, richard burton and elizabeth taylor. old, this was

1968 and they put me in between them and i remember elizabeth taylor saying, do you ride? i said i like riding horses. and she said she had a pony and anthony eden came over and fell off the horse and she was being very english and very proper. and then richard burton made fun of her and said, when i was a boy in swansea -- we went to the sea with horse pipes around their neck, you know what i mean? and i was thinking, oh, my gosh. charlie: the life that you have had -- you get to meet so many interesting people. tom: yes, unbelievable. charlie: you get to have dinner with people from the audience. tom: yes, richard burton and elizabeth taylor invited me to

dinner when i was 28. these people i had seen since i was a child on the screen. it is tremendous. all of the singers, sammy davis, a great guy. i became great friends. dean martin was a little aloof. frank sinatra used to say that after they would do the shows in vegas, they would go watch buddy grecko in the lounge and dean would sneak up to play golf in the morning. he was different. charlie: what is vegas like today? tom: it has changed a lot. there is a lot of cirque du soleil. a lot of music but, i think caesar's palace is the only place where they get headliners.

there, eltonlays john, cher and celine dion. they built this theater for celine dion. that is the only game in town. charlie: there is a lot of clubs and electronic dance music. tom: exactly, dj's now and they are getting paid much more money. charlie: you call this, over the top and back. meaning? tom: well, i think i went over the top and went into those comfortable areas as i was talking about and then i thought wait a minute, let's get back to recording properly. so now i am back. especially with these albums. we went back to a rhythm section and singing lose, country and

gospel flavored songs that i have been wanting to do for a long time. now i am doing it. charlie: look at this. this is a montage of you. roll tape. here we go. we'll end with this. golly, miss molly ♪ tom: ♪ i think about you girl you get another day older and deeper in debt ♪ >> ♪ what the world needs now is

love, sweet love ♪ charlie: that is a life. tom: and i am still having it. charlie: and this picture? tom: i can't remember the photographer. it's a recent one, as you can see. the one on the back is 1964. i am 24 years old. charlie: you are 75 years old? tom: yes. charlie: a great pleasure. tom jones, thank you for joining us. we will see you next time. ♪ tom: ♪ it is not unusual to be loved by anyone it is not unusual to have fun with anyone when i see you hanging about

with anyone it is not unusual to see me cry i want to die it is not unusual to go out at any time when i see you out and about it is such a crime if you should ever want to be loved by anyone it is not unusual it happens every day no matter what you say you find it happens all the time love will never do what you want it to why can't this crazy love be mine?

it is not unusual to be mad with anyone it is not unusual to be sad with anyone but if i ever find that you have changed at any time it is not unusual to find out that i'm in love with you yeah to find that i am in love with you, oh, yeah to find that i am in love with to find that i am in love, to find that i am in love with you it is not unusual it is not unusual it is not unusual it is not unusual to find that i am in love

to find that i'm in love to find that i'm in love with you, yeah to find that i am in love, to find that i am in love to find that i'm in love with you, oh, yeah i said, it is not unusual it is not unusual it is not unusual it is not unusual well, it is not unusual it is not unusual it is not unusual, oh, yeah

♪ >> midday here in hong kong. i will up at you with the top stories. china is still weakening. shin gauge thai beating expectations at 40.6. that is still a contraction. tech sector growth this year still remains under threat. rba choosing to leave rates on hold. rulingerve tank governor out a cut last week when he told markets to chill out.