السبت، 11 أبريل 2020

Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson

Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. After starting to act in a London theatre club at the age of 15, he began his film career by playing Cedric Diggory in the fantasy film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). He went on to star as Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels, consisting of five films between 2008 and 2012, which earned a combined total of over $3.3 billion worldwide. It brought Pattinson worldwide fame and established him among the highest-paid actors in the world. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and he was featured in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

After starring in the romantic dramas Remember Me (2010) and Water for Elephants (2011), Pattinson eschewed roles in big-budget films in favour of independent productions helmed by auteurs, which have earned him critical acclaim. He played a manipulative billionaire in David Cronenberg's thriller Cosmopolis (2012), an aspiring actor in Cronenberg's satire Maps to the Stars (2014), an explorer in James Gray's adventure drama The Lost City of Z (2017), a bank robber in the Safdie Brothers' crime drama Good Time (2017), a criminal in a spaceship in Claire Denis' science fiction drama High Life (2018), and a troubled lighthouse keeper in Robert Eggers' horror film The Lighthouse (2019).

Pattinson composes and plays his own music. He sang songs for the Twilight film series and the 2008 independent comedy-drama film How to Be. Since 2015, Pattinson is the ambassador of the GO Campaign, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and funds to help orphans and vulnerable children around the world. He is also a supporter of the End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) campaign, Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT), is a member of International Medical Corps, and has shared details about cancer through PSAs to raise awareness about the disease.
Early life
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson[1][2] was born in London on 13 May 1986,[3][4] the youngest of three children of Clare Pattinson (née Charlton), a booker at a model agency, and Richard Pattinson, a vintage car dealer.[5] He grew up in a small home in Barnes with two older sisters, Elizabeth (Lizzy), a singer and songwriter, and Victoria.[6] Pattinson discovered his love for music long before acting and started learning the guitar and piano at the age of four.[7] He attended Tower House School, where he, at age 12, was expelled from for shoplifting explicit magazines and selling them later to his male classmates.[8] He continued to attend The Harrodian School until his graduation.[9][10] Pattinson's love of cinema began when he was a teenager, and he counts Jack Nicholson and Jean-Paul Belmondo among his acting idols.[11] In his late teens and early twenties, he used to perform acoustic guitar gigs at open mic nights in pubs around London where he sang his own written songs either solo under the stage name Bobby Dupea, or with his band Bad Girls.[12][13]

Pattinson considered becoming a musician or going to university to study speech-writing, but never thought about pursuing an acting career; his teacher in school even advised him not to join the drama club because she thought he was not suited for the creative arts.[14][15] However, when he was 13, he joined the local amateur theatre club called Barnes Theatre Company after his father convinced him to attend because he was quite shy.[16][17] At age 15 and after two years of working backstage, he auditioned for the play Guys and Dolls and he got his first role as a Cuban dancer with no lines. He got the lead role of George Gibbs in the next play Our Town,[10] was spotted by a talent agent who was sitting in the audience and he began looking for professional roles.[18] He also appeared in the plays Macbeth, Anything Goes, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles.[19][20][15]

Career
2004–2007: Career beginnings
Pattinson had supporting roles in the German made-for-television film Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004, and in director Mira Nair's costume drama Vanity Fair, although his scenes in the latter were deleted and only appear on the DVD version.[21][22] In May 2005, he was scheduled to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, but was fired shortly before the opening night and was replaced by Tom Riley.[23] Later that year he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.[24] For this role he was named that year's "British Star of Tomorrow" by The Times[25] and had more than once been hailed as "the next Jude Law".[10][26][27] For this role, he learned how to scuba dive.[28]

In 2006, Pattinson appeared in The Haunted Airman a psychological thriller, aired on BBC Four on 31 October, and he earned favourable reviews.[29][30][31] The Stage praised his performance by saying that "[he] played the airman of the title with a perfect combination of youthful terror and world weary cynicism."[32] On 19 February 2007, he appeared in a supporting role in a one-off television drama based on the best-selling novel by Kate Long, The Bad Mother's Handbook.[33][34]

2008–2013: The Twilight Saga and worldwide recognition
In 2008, Pattinson landed the role of Edward Cullen in the film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novel of the same name. According to TV Guide, Pattinson was initially apprehensive about auditioning for the role, fearful that he would not be able to live up to the "perfection" expected from the character.[35] The film was released on 21 November 2008 and turned Pattinson into a movie star overnight.[36] Although the film received mixed reviews, critics praised his chemistry with co-star Kristen Stewart in the film.[37] The New York Times called Pattinson a "capable and exotically beautiful" actor[38] and Roger Ebert said he was "well-chosen" for the role.[39]

His other release of 2008, How to Be, was a low-budget comedy drama film written and directed by Oliver Irving.[40][41] It screened at number of film festivals, earned mixed reviews from critics.[42][43] Pattinson then starred as Salvador Dalí in the film Little Ashes, a Spanish-British drama directed by Paul Morrison.[44] He also starred in a short film The Summer House directed by Daisy Gili.[45] This short film later re-released as a part of an anthology film titled Love & Distrust, comprising five short films following eight individuals from diverse backgrounds on their quest for true contentment.[46][47]

He reprised his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which was released on 20 November 2009. The film earned a record-breaking $142,839,137 opening weekend and an overall run of $709,827,462 worldwide.[48] Though the film received negative reviews, film critic Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune said that Pattinson was still "interesting to watch" despite the bad makeup.[49] Bill GoodyKoontz from the Arizona Republic said that "Pattinson's actually not in the film that much, but he does his best when he's around"[50] and Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post noted that his acting was "uniformly strong".[51] It brought Pattinson global stardom,[52][53] and established him among the highest-paid actors in the world.[54][55][56]

In 2009, Pattinson presented at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony.[57] On 10 November 2009, Revolver Entertainment released the DVD Robsessed, a documentary which details Pattinson's life and popularity.[58] His next film The Twilight Saga: Eclipse was released on 30 June 2010, earning $698,491,347 worldwide.[59][60] The film received mixed reviews, Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised Pattinson's performance, stating that "(he) makes you forget the white makeup and weird eye contact lenses – to focus on a character torn between his love for the human Bella (Stewart) and the knowledge that she'll have to let go of her beating heart if she's to stay with him forever."[61] Will Lawrence of Empire Online praised the performance of three leads of the film by saying that "All three corners of the love triangle look sharper than before: the most accomplished actor, Stewart, still lip-biting, Lautner still pec-flexing, and Pattinson not fully shaking that fiery-eyed pout. But all have grown into their roles, cutting loose in a film that (thankfully) sidesteps the melodrama of its prequels."[62]
Pattinson executive-produced and starred in the film Remember Me, which was released on 12 March 2010.[63] Though the film received mixed reviews, some critics praised his performance. Jake Coyle of The Associated Press said that "The young actor has an unmistakable screen presence. However in Remember Me, he pours it on thickly and self-consciously. With low eyes, sleeves rolled up just so and cigarette drooping artfully from his mouth, Tyler (like Edward Cullen) is a reluctant romantic."[64] Ian Nathan of Empire Online stated that "this is the best thing he's done."[65] and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised his chemistry with co-star Emilie de Ravin in the film, stating that the "scenes between Pattinson and de Ravin exude genuine charm."[66]

In 2011, he starred as Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants, a film adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel of the same name.[67] The film received mixed reviews, but Pattinson's performance was praised. Film critic Richard Corliss from Time praised Pattinson for being "shy and watchful" and said that he "radiates a slow magnetism that locks the viewer's eyes on him", ultimately calling him "star quality".[68] Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Pattinson succeeded at holding his own at the center of a major feature and was "endlessly watchable".[69] Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone said he "smolders" in the film[70] and Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Pattinson is entirely convincing as Jacob".[71]
In May 2014, two of Pattinson's films premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[88] First, Pattinson starred in David Michôd's futuristic western The Rover,[89] alongside Guy Pearce and Scoot McNairy.[90][91] The film had its premiere out of competition at the festival.[92] For his performance as a naïve simpleton member of the criminal gang, Pattinson drew rave reviews. Scott Foundas of Variety said that "Pattinson who turns out to be the film's greatest surprise, sporting a convincing Southern accent and bringing an understated dignity to a role that might easily have been milked for cheap sentimental effects." He further added that "(it is) a career re-defining performance for Pattinson that reveals untold depths of sensitivity and feeling."[93] Todd McCarthy, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that "Pattinson delivers a performance that, despite the character's own limitations, becomes more interesting as the film moves along."[94] Jessica Kiang in her review for The Playlist, noted that "(Pattinson) turns in a performance that manages to be more affecting than affected."[95]

Next, he reunited with Cronenberg in Maps to the Stars, a satirical drama described as a darkly comic look at Hollywood excess.[96][97] The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[98] In the film, he played the role of Jerome Fontana, a limo driver and struggling actor, who wants to be a successful screenwriter.[99] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph summed up his performance as "winningly played."[100]

In 2015, two of his films premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in February. First he appeared in Werner Herzog's adaptation of Gertrude Bell's biopic film Queen of the Desert alongside Nicole Kidman and James Franco.[101][102] Pattinson appeared as T. E. Lawrence aka Lawrence Of Arabia in the film, which Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent described as "comic and a very long way removed from Peter O'Toole. He plays Lawrence Of Arabia as a sharp-tongued, sardonic figure who can see through the pretensions of his bosses and colleagues."[103] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called his role "brief but significant" and concluded that "the easy camaraderie in his scenes with Kidman is appealing."[104] Sam Adams of Indiewire said that, "Robert Pattinson gets relatively high marks for his brief turn as the bonafide T.E. Lawrence."[105]

Next he starred in Anton Corbijn's Life as Life Magazine photographer Dennis Stock; the film deals with the friendship between actor James Dean and Stock.[106][107] Critical reception for the film was mixed but Pattinson received appreciation for his performance as a photographer. Guy Lodge of Variety called his performance a "sly turn",[108] Little White Lies said that "Pattinson's performance is as crisp as the white shirt and black suits his character always wears. This is a camouflage for his own problems that slowly unfurl, adding colour and improving the film."[109] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted that Pattinson "gives arguably the most fully rounded performance."[110]

In late 2015, Pattinson appeared in Brady Corbet's directorial debut film The Childhood of a Leader, alongside Bérénice Bejo and Stacy Martin.[111][112] In the film, he played the dual roles, first a brief but crucial role of Charles Marker, a reporter in Germany during World War I and later as an adult version of the leader. He received praise for his performance, which Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called "elegant"[113] and Lee Marshall of Screen International described as "excellent".[114]

In 2016, Pattinson appeared in Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment's adaptation of The Lost City of Z, directed by James Gray.[115][116] Premiered at the New York Film Festival, the film stars Pattinson as British explorer Corporal Henry Costin. Pattinson grew a heavy beard and lost 35 pounds of weight for the film.[117] Earning critical praise for his role, Matt Neg of NBP described him as "one of the better actors working today",[118] Keith Uhlich in his review for Brooklyn Magazine called him "subtle scene-stealer",[119] and Linda Marric writing for Heyuguys find his performance "an impressively subtle, yet brilliant
Pattinson next starred in the Safdie Brothers' neo-grindhouse thriller Good Time, as a bank robber, Connie Nikas,[121] which he has described as a "really hardcore kind of Queens, New York, mentally damaged psychopath, bank robbery movie."[122] The film premiered in competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival[123] and proved to be a turning point in his career. Pattinson's performance garnered critical acclaim. Guy Lodge of Variety described it as his "career-peak",[124] Eric Kohn of Indiewire called it "his Career-Best"[125] and David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter drew comparisons with Al Pacino's Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, and ultimately noted it as "his most commanding performance to date."[126] Pattinson received his first Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead for his performance in the film.[127][128]

In August 2017, while promoting Good Time, Pattinson wrote and starred in a short film for GQ, titled Fear & Shame, which was described by the magazine as, "Robert Pattinson Battles Fame and Fear to Get a New York Street Dog". Shot on the streets of New York, the film narrates Pattinson's journey to buy a hot dog while avoiding media and fans in the hustle of the city.[129][130][131] The A.V. Club called it "bizarre and delightful".[132] While IndieWire said that "he's got a bright" and "shimmering future".[133]

Zellner Brothers' western-comedy Damsel was his first comedy since his 2008 film How to Be.[134] Pattinson portrayed Samuel Alabaster, an eccentric pioneer who travels west in search of his fiancée. His performance was favourably received: the New York Post described it as a "hilariously oddball performance"[135] and The A.V. Club found him "easily the best thing about Damsel".[136]

His last film of 2018 was Claire Denis' science fiction drama film High Life, set in space, about team of criminals travelling towards black hole.[137][138] Denis initially had Philip Seymour Hoffman in mind for the role of the protagonist, but after becoming aware of Pattinson's commitment and desire to work with her, she cast him in the role instead.[139] Pattinson starred as Monte, one of the criminals on the spaceship, who became a father against his wishes through artificial insemination, and raised his daughter as the ship progressed to the black hole. Critics praised the film with Allen Hunter of Screen International noting Pattinson as the most "dominant" and "engaging" element in the film[140] and Jason Bailey of The Playlist called it "another scorching Pattinson performance; he plays the character's menace and rebellion with brio".[141]

2019–present
Pattinson's first 2019 role was Robert Eggers's black-and-white psychological horror film The Lighthouse, set on a remote New England island in the 1890s.[142] The film premiered at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with widespread critical acclaim for both the film overall and Pattinson's performance.[143][144] In his review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw described Pattinson's performance as "mesmeric" and a "sledgehammer punch," which "just gets better and better."[145] Gregory Ellwood, writing for Collider, said that Pattinson has "topped himself here" and his performance is "so transformative it's jarring. You simply never thought he had it in him."[146] He received his second Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead for the film.[147]

Pattinson's following two film releases premiered at 2019 Venice Film Festival, first he starred in his second collaboration with director David Michôd, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's plays titled The King.[148][149] Pattinson played a small but crucial role as The Dauphin of France, who served as the nemesis of Henry V. For the role, Pattinson adopted a French accent, which he based on the fashion industry people of France.[150] Though divided on his accent, critics found his performance the "scene-stealing" and "highlight" of the film.[151][152] He also appeared in Ciro Guerra's Waiting for the Barbarians, based on a 1980 novel by J. M. Coetzee, alongside Mark Rylance and Johnny Depp.[153] Boyd van Hoeij writing for The Hollywood Reporter called his character as "a rather flat supporting role", while The Guardian described his performance as "stiff" and "over-articulated".[154][155]

Upcoming projects
As of March 2020, Pattinson has several projects in various stages of production. He has completed filming for Antonio Campos's drama film The Devil All the Time, based on a 2011 novel by Donald Ray Pollock,[156] as well as for Christopher Nolan's globe trotting action film Tenet, alongside John David Washington and Elizabeth Debicki.[157] He is filming for Matt Reeves's upcoming 2021 film The Batman, in which he is playing the title role.[158][159][160] Pattinson is also committed to reteam with Claire Denis to headline her film adaptation of Denis Johnson's 1986 novel The Stars at Noon.[161]

Other ventures
Modelling
Pattinson began modelling at the age of 12, but his workload began to decrease four years later. In December 2008, he blamed the lack of modelling work on his masculine appearance: "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modelling career."[162] Pattinson appeared as a model for British teen magazines, and in the advertising campaign for Hackett's autumn 2007 collection.[163]

In November 2010, Pattinson was approached by Burberry to be the face of their brand with a £1m deal, which he turned down.[164]

In June 2013, Pattinson was announced as the new face of Dior Homme fragrance.[165][166][167] Between 2013 and 2020, he appeared in three advertising campaigns of the fragrance for TV and print. Collaboraters included directors Romain Gavras, Frédéric Sofiyana, and The Blaze, and photographers Peter Lindbergh, Nan Goldin and Mikael Jansson.[168][169][170] Goldin also released a book titled Robert Pattinson: 1000 Lives, a collection of Pattinson's images from the 2013 campaign.[171][172] In February 2016, he was also announced as the first ambassador of Dior Homme Menswear and appeared in multiple of the brand's print collection campaigns, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and Peter Lindbergh.[173][174]

Music
Pattinson plays the guitar and piano since age four, and writes his own music.[175] He appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley,[176][177] and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long.[178] The songs were included in the film after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings into an early cut without his knowledge, and he agreed that "one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there."[177] The soundtrack for the film How to Be features three original songs performed by Pattinson[179] and written by composer Joe Hastings.[180] Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails."[177] In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the "Hollywood's Most Influential Top Unexpected Musicians" award.[181]

Pattinson also played the guitar on the Death Grips song "Birds", which was released in November 2013 on their album Government Plates.[182] In a March 2017 interview, Pattinson stated that he would contribute music to his upcoming film Damsel.[183] Talking about it, he said that "I don’t play that much any more, though I am doing music for [‘Damsel’]. I used to differentiate between music and acting but the more I don't play music, the more I push that area of my brain into acting. I improvise like I would when I play music."[122] In February 2019, Pattinson collaborated with the Nottingham band Tindersticks and released the song "Willow" for High Life original soundtrack.[184]

Philanthropy
Pattinson supports and promotes the ECPAT UK's campaign Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People to stop human trafficking.[185][186][187] At 2009 Cannes Film Festival amfAR event, he raised $56,000 for the cause.[188] In June 2010, he donated his own artwork to PACT which auctioned on eBay, to help the organization working for missing children.[189][190] He also donated a sketch, drawn by himself, called Unfinished City which auctioned at $6,400.[191] The money from the auction went to an Arizona-based homeless center Ozanam Manor.[192] In January 2010, he participated in charity telethon Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief.[193] In March 2010, he signed off guitar, the money raised from the auction went to Midnight Mission.[194] He raised $80,000 for the GO Campaign by donating a meet and greet with himself on the set of Breaking Dawn and later again by auctioning a private screening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.[195]

In August 2011, he helped to raise awareness towards the cancer by highlighting The Cancer Bites campaign in his acceptance speech at 2011 Teen Choice Awards, he shared the details about the campaign which is working for the people suffering from cancer.[196][197] In August 2013, he visited Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and participated in arts and crafts with the patients.[198][199] In September 2013, he joined International Medical Corps and became one of their first responders, to help raise awareness before the disaster strikes by strengthen of communities.[200][201] He participated in a charitable auction Go Go Gala, organized by GO Campaign and bought a cello made out of recycled material, at $5,600 on 15 November 2013.[202][203] In March 2014, he donated autographed items for auction to raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation.[204] In May 2014, he donated his bike for an Auction to Benefit the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), who provide primary healthcare services to the people living in the outback.[205] He participated in ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, promoting the awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[206] In November 2014, he participated in GO Campaign's annual charity function.[207] In October 2015, he joined Global Goals Campaign, which aims to end poverty by 2030.[208]

In 2015, Pattinson became the first ambassador of GO Campaign, he said that, "I’ve eagerly followed the growing impact GO Campaign has had over the years, on so many children and youth, and I love how tangible and transparent it is. They partner with some remarkable grassroots local heroes who are doing fantastic work but who lack the needed resources, and in places where a little bit of money can go a long way. I’ve been a donor and a supporter, and now I look forward to joining their efforts, so together we can give opportunity to even more kids and young adults across the globe."[209]

In May 2019, at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, he co-hosted a charity event along with Helen Mirren, organized by HFPA. Pattinson along with Mirren donated $500,000 to international aid organization Help Refugees on behalf of HFPA.[210]

In the media
Pattinson was named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2008 and 2009 by People Magazine.[211][212] In 2009, he was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour UK.[213] AskMen named Pattinson as one of the top 49 most influential men of 2009.[214] In 2009, Vanity Fair named Pattinson "the most handsome man in the world" along with Angelina Jolie as the most beautiful woman in the world.[215] Pattinson was named one of Vanity Fair's "Top Hollywood Earners of 2009" with estimated earnings of $18 million in 2009.[54][216]

In December 2009, Pattinson autographed a guitar to be auctioned off for charity.[217] He also volunteered for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief in January 2010.[218] GQ and Glamour both named him the "Best Dressed Man" of 2010, with GQ stating, "Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man."[219][220] In 2010, People listed Pattinson in their "World's Most Beautiful" issue.[221] In 2010, the actor declined a $2 million fashion campaign with Burberry.[222]

Britain's The Sunday Times "Rich List" put him on its "list of young millionaires" in the UK, worth £13 million.[223] In 2010, Pattinson was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and he was featured in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.[224][225] On 14 November 2010, Pattinson received two BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Best Dressed and Best Actor.[226]

In 2011, Pattinson was 15th on Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Top 40" with earnings of $27.5 million in 2010.[227] GQ once again named Pattinson the "Best Dressed Man" of 2012.[228] In October 2012, Pattinson was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour UK.[229]

In 2013, Pattinson was 2nd on Glamour UKs "Richest UK Celebs Under 30" with earnings of £45 million.[230] Britain's London Evening Standard named him one of the London's most influential people of 2013 in their The Power 1000.[231] In February 2014, he appeared on the cover of World Film Locations: Toronto, a book about Toronto and the films shot in the city.[232] A play about three mature women obsessed with Pattinson, titled Totally Devoted, debuted at Surgeons' Hall, Edinburgh on 13 August 2014.[233] In October 2014, Pattinson was 3rd on Heat magazine's "annual rich list of young British stars" with earnings of $82.89 million.[234] London Evening Standard included him in their list of 2014's London's 1000 most influential people.[235]

Pattinson interviewed actor Jamie Bell for Interview magazine, which was published on 20 July 2015.[236]

Personal life
In the summer of 2009, Pattinson became romantically linked to his The Twilight Saga co-star Kristen Stewart.[237] In July 2012, Stewart was photographed having an affair with her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders.[238] The day that the photos were released, Sanders, who was 19 years older than Stewart and married at the time, issued a public apology for the affair, as did Stewart.[239] Pattinson and Stewart split, but reconciled in October 2012. The pair eventually broke up in May 2013.[240]

In September 2014, Pattinson began dating singer FKA Twigs. They were rumored to be engaged, but never publicly confirmed it. The couple split in summer 2017.[241]

Awards and nominations
Pattinson has received Best Actor award at Strasbourg Film Festival for his performance in How to Be (2009).[242] For his work in The Twilight Saga, he has earned two Empire Awards nominations and won eleven MTV Movie Awards, two People's Choice Awards with additional other awards and nominations including winning 2009's Hollywood Film Award for New Hollywood by Hollywood Film Festival.[243][244][245]

In 2014, he earned nominations from Australian Academy Awards (AACTA) and Canadian Screen Awards for his performances in The Rover and Maps to the Stars respectively.[246][247] He won Hollywood Rising Star Award for his performance in film Life from Deauville American Film Festival in 2015.[248]

In July 2018, Robert Pattinson received a top award at the closing of the 53rd edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[249]

Honours
A wax statue of Pattinson was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City in 2010.[250] Pattinson along with his Twilight co-stars, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner put his signature, hand and foot prints in wet concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on 3 November 2011.[251] On 19 February 2014, Russian astronomer Timur Kryachko named an asteroid he had discovered after Pattinson, as 246789 Pattinson.[252][253]

He was honoured with a tribute at 2017 Deauville American Film Festival on 2 September 2017, with screening of selected films of his during the festival run

Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Govind Rajan (born 3 February 1963) is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.[1][2][3][4] Between 2003 and 2006 he was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund.[3] From September 2013 through September 2016 [3] he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India ; in 2015, during his tenure at the Indian Reserve Bank he became the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements.[5]

At the Federal Reserve annual Jackson Hole conference in 2005, Rajan warned about the growing risks in the financial system and proposed policies that would reduce such risks. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers called the warnings "misguided" and Rajan himself a "luddite".[6] However, following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Rajan's views came to be seen as prescient and he was extensively interviewed for the Academy Awards-winning documentary Inside Job (2010).

In 2003, Rajan received the inaugural Fischer Black Prize, given every two years by the American Finance Association to the financial economist younger than 40 who has made the most significant contribution to the theory and practice of finance. His book, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy, won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award in 2010. In 2016, he was named by Time in its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World'
Early life and education
Raghuram Rajan was born on 3 February 1963 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh[9][10] into a Tamil family.

Assigned to the Intelligence Bureau, R Govindarajan, his father, was posted to Indonesia in 1966. In 1968 he joined the newly created external intelligence unit of the Intelligence Bureau, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) where he served as staff officer under R. N. Kao and became part of the "Kaoboys". In 1970 he was posted to Sri Lanka, where Raghuram Rajan missed school one year because of political turmoil. After Sri Lanka, R Govindarajan was posted to Belgium where the children attended a French school. In 1974 the family returned to India.[9] Throughout his childhood, Rajan presumed his father to be a diplomat since the family traveled on diplomatic passports.[11] He was a half-term student of Campion School, Bhopal until 1974.[citation needed]

From 1974 to 1981 Rajan attended Delhi Public School, RK Puram,[12][13] In 1981 he enrolled at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi for a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. In the final year of his four-year degree, he headed the Student Affairs Council.[9] He graduated in 1985 and was awarded the Director's Gold Medal as the best all-round student. In 1987, he earned a Master of Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, graduating with a gold medal for academic performance.[14] He joined the Tata Administrative Services as a management trainee, but left after a few months to join the doctoral program at the Sloan School of Management[9] at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1991, he received a PhD for his thesis titled Essays on Banking under the supervision of Stewart Myers, consisting of three essays on the nature of the relationship between a firm or a country, and its creditor banks. The nature of financial systems had witnessed widespread changes in the 1980s, with markets getting deregulated, information becoming more widely available and easier to process, and competition having increased. The established orthodoxy claimed that deregulation must necessarily increase competition, which would translate into greater efficiency.[15] In his thesis, Rajan argued that this might not necessarily be the case. The first essay focused on the choice available to firms between arm's length credit and relationship-based credit. The second focused on the Glass-Steagall Act, and the conflict of interest involved when a commercial lending bank enters into investment banking. The final essay examined why indexation of a country's debt, despite offering potential advantages, seldom featured in debt reduction plans.[15]

He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the London Business School in 2012,[16] the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2015.[17] and Université catholique de Louvain in 2019.

Career
Academic career
In 1991, Rajan joined as an assistant professor of finance at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, and became a full-time professor in 1995. He has taught as a visiting professor at Stockholm School of Economics, Kellogg School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Indian School of Business.
Rajan has written extensively on banking, corporate finance, international finance, growth and development, and organisational structures.[18][19] He is a regular contributor to Project Syndicate. He has collaborated with Douglas Diamond to produce much-cited work on banks, and their interlinkages with macroeconomic phenomena. He has worked with Luigi Zingales on the effect of institutions on economic growth, their research showing that development of free financial markets is fundamental to economic modernisation.[20] Rajan and Zingales built on their work to publish Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists in 2003. The book argued that entrenched incumbents in closed financial markets stifle competition and reforms, thereby inhibiting economic growth.[21] Rajan's 2010 book Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy examined the fundamental stresses in the American and the global economy that led to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. He argued that widening income inequality in the US, trade imbalances in the global economy, and the clash between arm's length financial systems, were responsible for bringing about the crisis.[22] The book won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.

The Research Papers in Economics project ranks him among the world's most influential economists, featuring him among the top 5% of authors.[23][24] He was awarded the inaugural 2003 Fischer Black Prize, given biennially by the American Finance Association to the best finance researcher under the age of 40, for his "path-breaking contributions to our knowledge of financial institutions, the workings of the modern corporation, and the causes and consequences of the development of the financial sector across countries."[25][20]

He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009, and served as the president of the American Finance Association in 2011.[14] He is a member of the Group of Thirty international economic body.[26] He has served as a founding member of the academic council of the Indian School of Business since 1998.[27]

Policymaking
International Monetary Fund
In the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund was facing criticism for its imposition of fiscal austerity and tighter monetary policies on developing nations. Critics, including Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, held the IMF's policies responsible for increased economic volatility and destabilisation.[9][28] While the role of the chief economist had previously always been held by a leading macroeconomist, the IMF wanted to strengthen its financial expertise. American economist Anne Krueger, then the IMF's first deputy managing director, had recently read Rajan's book Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists, and reached out to him to understand if he would be interested. Although Rajan seemed to harbour reservations initially, reportedly telling her, "Well, Anne, I don't know any macroeconomics", he appeared for an interview, and was subsequently appointed.[20] In announcing his appointment, IMF managing director Horst Köhler noted that Rajan's "particular experience in financial sector issues will help strengthen the IMF's role as a centre of excellence in macroeconomic and financial sector stability."[29] At 40, he was the youngest individual, and the first born in an emerging-market nation, to be appointed the chief economist at the IMF.[9] He served in the position from October 2003 to December 2006.[30]

At the IMF, Rajan laid the groundwork for integrating financial sector analysis into the IMF's economic country models. He also led a team to assist some major economies in reducing balance of payments imbalances.[20] During his tenure the Research Department, which Rajan led, contributed to a complete review of the IMF's medium-term strategy, worked on introducing modern modelling and exchange rate assessment techniques to the IMF's consultations with member countries, and analysed the growth and integration of China and India into the world economy.[31] While he largely kept fiscal austerity policies intact, on occasions he also published research that went against the prevailing orthodoxy at the IMF.[9][28] A 2005 paper, published with Arvind Subramanian, questioned the efficacy of foreign aid, arguing that aid inflows have adverse effects on growth in developing economies.[32] A 2006 paper, published with Eswar Prasad and Arvind Subramanian, concluded that while growth and the extent of foreign financing were positively correlated in industrial countries, non-industrial countries that had relied on foreign finance had grown slower than those that had not.[33]

While he was asked to stay on as the chief economist for a second term, Rajan left after one term as the University of Chicago indicated that his leave could not be extended.[31]

Economic Advisor to Government of India
In 2007, then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, drafted Rajan to write a report proposing the next generation of financial sector reforms in India. A High Level Committee on Financial Sector Reforms was constituted consisting of twelve members, with Rajan as chairman. The committee, in its report titled A Hundred Small Steps, recommended broad-based reforms across the financial sector, arguing that instead of focusing "on a few large, and usually politically controversial steps", India must "take a hundred small steps in the same direction".[34]

In November 2008, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh appointed Rajan as an honorary economic adviser, a role that involved writing policy notes at Singh's request.[35][9] On 10 August 2012 Rajan was appointed as chief economic adviser to India's Ministry of Finance, succeeding Kaushik Basu in the role.[36] He prepared the Economic Survey of India for the year 2012–13.[37] In the annual survey, he urged the government to reduce spending and subsidies, and recommended the redirection of Indians from agriculture to service and skilled manufacturing sector. He was also skeptical of the Food Security Bill in light of the rising fiscal deficits.[38]

Reserve Bank of India
On 6 August 2013 it was announced that Rajan would take over as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for a term of 3 years, succeeding Duvvuri Subbarao.[39] On 5 September 2013 he took charge as the 23rd governor, at which point he took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
In his first speech as RBI governor, Rajan promised banking reforms and eased curbs on foreign banking, following which the BSE SENSEX rose by 333 points or 1.83%. After his first day at office, the rupee rose 2.1% against the US dollar. As Governor of the RBI, Rajan made curbing inflation his primary focus, bringing down retail inflation from 9.8% in September 2013 to 3.78% in July 2015 – the lowest since the 1990s. Wholesale inflation came down from 6.1% in September 2013 to a historic low of -4.05% in July 2015.

In a 2014 interview, Rajan said his major targets as governor of the Reserve Bank of India were to lower inflation, increase savings and deepen financial markets, of which he believed reducing inflation was the most important. A panel he appointed proposed an inflation target for India of 6% for January 2016 and 4%(+-2%) thereafter.[41] Under Rajan, the RBI adopted consumer price index (CPI) as the key indicator of inflation, which is the global norm, despite the government recommending otherwise. Foreign exchange reserves of India grew by about 30% to the tune of $380 billion in two years. Under Rajan, the RBI licensed two universal banks and approved eleven payments banks to extend banking services to the nearly two-thirds of the population who are still deprived of banking facilities.

During his tenure, he enforced two-factor authentication of domestic credit card transactions to ensure the safety of customers. However, in an apparent contradiction of his previous stance of encouraging customers to use banks, he also permitted banks to charge customers for conducting ATM transactions beyond a certain number of times per month, at a time when the Indian Government was actively attempting to promote financial inclusion through its Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, which effectively prevented people from easily accessing their own savings and discouraged them from using formal banking channels.[42][43][44]

Media reports positioned Rajan as a prospective successor to Christine Lagarde as head of the IMF when her term expired in 2016,[41][45] even as Rajan himself countered such speculation.[46] This did not eventually come to bear, as Lagarde was nominated for a second term at the end of her tenure.[47] On 9 November 2015, Rajan was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).[48]

On 18 June 2016, Rajan announced that he would not be serving a second term as RBI Governor, and planned to return to academia.[49] In September 2017, Rajan revealed that though he was willing to take an extension and serve a second term as RBI Governor, the government had not extended any offer to him which left him with no choice but to return to the University of Chicago.[50] He also denied claims that the University of Chicago had, at that time, refused to accept his leave of absence to continue for a second term.[51]

Economic and political views
Rajan's economic and political views were influenced by his experience of the Indian economy during the The Emergency. As an economist, he was therefore wary of the risks of both unnecessary government intervention as well as unregulated financial markets, while remaining a champion of capitalism.[38]

Financial markets
Rajan advocates giving financial markets a greater role in the economy. In the book Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity[52] co-authored with Luigi Zingales, the two authors argue in favour of deregulated financial markets in order to facilitate access of the poor to finance: "Capitalism, or more precisely, the free market system, is the most effective way to organise production and distribution that human beings have found … healthy and competitive financial markets are an extraordinarily effective tool in spreading opportunity and fighting poverty. …Without vibrant, innovative financial markets, economies would ossify and decline." (p  1)

In 2005, at a celebration honouring Alan Greenspan, who was about to retire as chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Rajan delivered a controversial paper that was critical of the financial sector.[53] In that paper, "Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?", Rajan "argued that disaster might loom."[54] Rajan argued that financial sector managers were encouraged to "take risks that generate severe adverse consequences with small probability but, in return, offer generous compensation the rest of the time. These risks are known as tail risks. But perhaps the most important concern is whether banks will be able to provide liquidity to financial markets so that if the tail risk does materialise, financial positions can be unwound and losses allocated so that the consequences to the real economy are minimised."

The response to Rajan's paper at the time was negative. For example, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Harvard President Lawrence Summers called the warnings "misguided" and Rajan himself a "luddite".[55] However, following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Rajan's views came to be seen as prescient; by January 2009, The Wall Street Journal proclaimed that now, "few are dismissing his ideas."[54] In fact, Rajan was extensively interviewed on the global crisis for the Academy Award-winning documentary film Inside Job. Rajan wrote in May 2012 that the causes of the ongoing economic crisis in the US and Europe in the 2008–2012 period were substantially due to workforce competitiveness issues in the globalisation era, which politicians attempted to "paper-over" with easy credit. He proposed supply-side solutions of a long-term structural or national competitiveness nature: "The industrial countries should treat the crisis as a wake-up call and move to fix all that has been papered over in the last few decades... Rather than attempting to return to their artificially inflated GDP numbers from before the crisis, governments need to address the underlying flaws in their economies. In the United States, that means educating or retraining the workers who are falling behind, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and harnessing the power of the financial sector to do good while preventing it from going off track. In southern Europe, by contrast, it means removing the regulations that protect firms and workers from competition and shrinking the government's presence in a number of areas, in the process eliminating unnecessary, unproductive jobs."[56]

Austerity vs stimulus
During May 2012, Rajan and Paul Krugman expressed differing views on how to reinvigorate the economies in the US and Europe, with Krugman mentioning Rajan by name in an opinion editorial. This debate occurred against the backdrop of a significant "austerity vs stimulus" debate occurring at the time, with some economists arguing one side or the other or a combination of both strategies.[57][58][59] In an article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Rajan advocated structural or supply-side reforms to improve competitiveness of the workforce to better adapt to globalisation, while also supporting fiscal austerity measures (E.g., raising taxes and cutting spending), although he conceded that austerity could slow economies in the short-run and cause significant "pain" for certain constituencies.[56][60] Krugman rejected this focus on structural reforms combined with fiscal austerity. Instead he advocated traditional Keynesian fiscal (government spending and investment) and monetary stimulus, arguing that the primary factor slowing the developed economies at that time was a general shortfall in demand across all sectors of the economy, not structural or supply-side factors that affected particular sectors.[61]

As far as his position on India is concerned, Rajan stayed away from the Bhagwati vs. Sen debate, and has tended to sympathize with both sides of the so-called "growth vs. welfare" argument. While Rajan's views in general align with Bhagwati's (with respect to how growth is seen as the main source of development), he has also argued for government involvement in health and education like Sen, and has pointed to the resultant threat of oligarchy or alienation of the poor.[38]

In 2019, Rajan said that, following the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the imposition of austerity, contemporary capitalism "is under serious threat" because it has stopped providing opportunities for the many and is now facing a possible revolt from the masses.[62]

Demonetization in India
In interviews in September 2017, Rajan said the Government of India had consulted the Reserve Bank of India, during his Governorship, on the issue of demonetization but never asked to take a decision.[63] He said the RBI was against the move and warned the government of the potential negative effects. Rajan also termed the currency notes ban exercise as, "One cannot in any way say it has been an economic success". In addition to his work at the University of Chicago and RBI, Raghuram is also a member of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council.[64]

Awards
In 2003, Rajan won the inaugural Fischer Black Prize awarded by the American Finance Association for contributions to the theory and practice of finance by an economist under age 40.[65]
In February 2010 NASSCOM named him Global Indian at its 7th annual global leadership awards.[66]
In 2010, he was awarded the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy.[14]
In November 2011 he received the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences – Economics for his work in analyzing the contribution of financial development to economic growth, as well as the potentially harmful effects of dysfunctional incentives that lead to excessive risk-taking.[67]
In 2013, he was awarded the fifth Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics for his "ground-breaking research work which influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the world".[68]
In 2014 he was conferred with the "Governor of the Year Award 2014" from London-based financial journal Central Banking.[69][70]
In March 2019, he was awarded "Yashwantrao Chavan National Award 2018" for his contribution to economic development.[71]
Bibliography
Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists (2004), was co-authored with fellow Chicago Booth professor Luigi Zingales.
Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy (2010),[72] has won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award for 2010.[72][73][74][75]
I Do What I Do (2017) Harper Collins, a collection of speeches delivered during his stint as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India[76]
He has also published numerous articles in finance and economics journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance and Oxford Review of Economic Policy.
The True Lessons of the Recession; The West Can’t Borrow and Spend Its Way to Recovery by Rajan in May/June 2012 Foreign Affairs
The Third Pillar: How the State and Markets are leaving Communities Behind (February 2019)
What the Economy Needs Now (2019) published by Juggernaut Books.
Personal life
Raghuram Rajan is an Indian citizen and holds a USA Green Card.[77] He is married to Radhika Puri Rajan, whom he met while they were both students at IIM Ahmedabad. Radhika teaches at University of Chicago Law School. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. They have a daughter and a son.

Rajan's elder brother works for a solar company in the United States. Rajan's sister is married to an Indian Administrative Service officer and is a French teacher in New Delhi. Rajan's younger brother, Mukund Rajan, was born in Chennai in 1968.[9] He was the Brand Custodian and Chief Ethics Officer of Tata Sons[78][79][80]

Rajan is a vegetarian. He likes the outdoors and plays tennis and squash.[11][41] He enjoys reading Tolstoy, J. R. R. Tolkien and Upamanyu Chatterjee.[81] Rajan appeared on Siddharth Basu's quiz show Quiz Time, telecasted on the national television channel Doordarshan, in 1985, teaming up with his batchmate Jayant Sinha to represent IIT Delhi.[82][83] He has also participated in various marathons, such as the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2015.[84]

Controversies
Although it was normal for RBI Governors to get an extension, experts have opined that Rajan was denied extension because of serious differences with the Government of India. He had submitted a list of financial fraudsters to the Narendra Modi government, on which the prime minister's office took no action for three years.[85] Rajan has also stated that the sudden resignation of Urjit Patel, who was his successor at RBI, was a "note of protest".

Rameshwaram

Rameshwaram

Rameswaram (also spelt as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a town and municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilometres from Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. It is in the Gulf of Mannar, at the tip of the Indian peninsula.[1] Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, is connected to mainland India by the Pamban Bridge. Rameswaram is the terminus of the railway line from Chennai and Madurai. Together with Varanasi, it is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to Hindus, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimage.

It is written in the Ramayana that the Divine King Rama built a bridge with Hanuman's help from here across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravana. The Ramanathaswamy Temple, dedicated to the Vedic god Shiva, is at the centre of the town and is closely associated with Rama. The temple and the town are considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shaivas.[2][3]

Rameswaram is the closest point from which to reach Sri Lanka from India, and geological evidence suggests that the Rama Sethu was a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka[citation needed]. The town has been in the news over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, Kachchatheevu, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and capturing local fishermen for alleged cross-border activities by Sri Lankan Forces.[4] Rameswaram is administered by a municipality established in 1994. The town covers an area of 53 km2 (20 sq mi) and had a population of 44,856 as of 2011. Tourism and fishery employ the majority of workforce in Rameswaram.
Legend
Rameswaram means "Lord of Rama" (Rāma-īśvaram) in Sanskrit, an epithet of Shiva, the presiding deity of the Ramanathaswamy Temple.[5] According to one of the versions of Ramayana, Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu, prayed to Shiva here to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon-king Ravana in Sri Lanka.[6][3] According to the Puranas (Hindu scriptures), upon the advice of sages, Rama along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, installed and worshipped the lingam (an iconic symbol of Shiva) here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya incurred while killing of the Brahmin Ravana.[7] To worship Shiva, Rama wanted to have a lingam and directed his trusted lieutenant Hanuman to bring it from Himalayas.[8][3] Since it took longer to bring the lingam, Sita built a lingam, made of just Sands of the shores, which is also believed to be the one in the sanctum of the temple.[8].Sethu Karai is a place 22 km before the island of Rameswaram from where Rama is believed to have built a floating stone bridge, the Ramsetu bridge, that further continued to Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram till Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.[6][9] According to another version, as quoted in Adhyatma Ramayana, Rama installed the lingam before the construction of the bridge to Lanka. However, both Valmiki and KambaRamayana does not have any evidences about this Rameswaram story.(http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article2595588.ece) [10]

History
The history of Rameswaram is centred around the island being a transit point to reach Sri Lanka (Ceylon historically) and the presence of Ramanathaswamy Temple. Tevaram, the 7th–8th century Tamil compositions on Shiva by the three prominent Nayanars (Saivites) namely Appar,[11] Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar.[12] The Chola king Rajendra Chola I (1012 – 1040 CE) had a control of the town for a short period.[13] The Jaffna kingdom (1215–1624 CE) had close connections with the island and claimed the title Setukavalan meaning custodians of the Rameswaram.[14] Hinduism was their state religion and they made generous contribution to the temple.[14] Setu was used in their coins as well as in inscriptions as marker of the dynasty.[14]

According to Firishta, Malik Kafur, the head general of Alauddin Khalji, the ruler of Delhi Sultanate, reached Rameswaram during his political campaign in spite of stiff resistance from the Pandyan princes in the early 14th century.[15][16][17] He erected a mosque by name Alia al-Din Khaldji in honour of victory of Islam.[15][16] During the early 15th century, the present day Ramanathapuram, Kamuthi and Rameswaram were included in the Pandya dynasty.[13] In 1520 CE, the town came under the rule of Vijayanagara Empire.[13] The Sethupathis, the breakaway from Madurai Nayaks, ruled Ramanathapuram and contributed to the Ramanathaswamy temple.[13][3] The most notable of them are the contributions of Muthu Kumara Ragunatha and Muthu Ramalinga Sethupathi, who transformed the temple to an architectural ensemble.[18] The region then fell under the rule of different leaders Chanda Sahib (1740 – 1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764 CE) in the middle of the 18th century.[19] In 1795 CE, Rameswaram came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency. After 1947, the town became a part of Independent India.[13]

Geography
Dhanushkodi island among blue waters of Bay of Bengal.
An aerial view of Dhanushkodi, at the tip of Rameswaram
Rameswaram has an average elevation of 10 m (33 ft). The island is spread across an area of 61.8 km2 (23.9 sq mi) and is in the shape of a conch. 74% of the area has sandy soil due to the presence of sea and it has many islands surrounding it, the Palk Strait in the north west and Gulf of Mannar in the south East.[20] The Ramanathaswamy Temple occupies major area of Rameswaram. The beach of Rameswaram is featured with no waves at all – the sea waves rise to a maximum height of 3 cm (0.10 ft) and the view looks like a very big river. Rameswaram has dry tropical climate with low humidity,[20] with average monthly rainfall of 75.73 mm (2.981 in),[20] mostly from North-East monsoon from October to January. The highest ever temperature recorded at Pamban station was 37 °C and the lowest was 17 °C.[21]
Ramsetu Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between Rameswaram and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka.[22] The bridge is 29 km (18 mi) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (North-East) from the Palk Strait (South-West). It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. The temple records record that Rama's Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 CE.[23] The bridge was first mentioned in the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana of Valmiki.[24] The name Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu (Sanskrit; setu: bridge) refers to the bridge built by the Vanara (ape men) army of Rama in Hindu mythology, which he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana.[24] The Ramayana attributes the building of this bridge to Rama in verse 2-22-76, naming it as Setubandhanam.[25] The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is called Sethusamudram meaning "Sea of the Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer in 1747 CE, available at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as Ramancoil, a colloquial form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (or Rama's Temple).[26] Many other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas[27] and other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo call this area by various names such as Adam's Bridge, Sethubandha and Sethubandha Rameswaram.[28]

Demographics

Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Thackeray

Uddhav Bal Thackeray (born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician serving as the 19th and current Chief Minister of Maharashtra.[2][3][4] He is the president of Shiv Sena.
Early life and education
Uddhav Thackeray was born on 27 July 1960 as the youngest of politician Bal Thackeray and his wife Meena Thackeray's three sons.[2][5] He did his schooling in Balmohan Vidyamandir and graduated from Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art.[6]

Early political career
In 2002, Thackeray started his political career as campaign incharge of Shiv Sena in the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections where the party performed well. In 2003, he was appointed as working president of Shiv Sena. Uddhav took over as chief editor of party mouthpiece Saamana (a daily Marathi-language newspaper published by Shiv Sena) in 2006 and resigned in 2019 before becoming chief minister of Maharashtra.[7]

A split in Shiv Sena happened when his cousin Raj Thackeray left the party in 2006 to form his own party named Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.[8] After the death of his father Bal Thackeray in 2012, he led the party and got elected as Shiv Sena president in 2013, and under his leadership Shiv Sena joined the NDA government in Maharashtra in 2014.[9]

Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Though Thackeray never took any constitutional post in his political career initially, however after a brief political crisis, on 28 November 2019 he took the oath as 19th Chief minister of Maharashtra after being elected as leader of the newly formed post-poll coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi.[10][3][4]

Personal life
Thackeray is married to Rashmi Thackeray and has two sons, Aditya and Tejas.[11]

While elder son Aditya is the president of the Yuva Sena, younger son Tejas is believed to be studying in a college in Buffalo, New York. Tejas has maintained a very low profile unlike his father and elder brother. On 16 July 2012, Uddhav Thackeray was admitted to Lilavati Hospital after he reported chest pain. He underwent an angioplasty and all the three blockages in his arteries were successfully removed.[12]

Thackeray is keen in photography and has exhibited his collection of aerial shots of various forts of Maharashtra at the Jehangir Art Gallery in 2004.[13][14] He has also published photo-books Maharashtra Desh (2010) and Pahava Vitthal (2011), capturing various aspects of Maharashtra and the warkaris during Pandharpur Wari respectively in the two books

Mahatma Phule

Mahatma Phule

Mahatma Jyotirao Govindrao Phule[a] (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890), also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields including eradication of untouchability and the caste system, and women's emancipation.He is mostly known for his efforts in educating women and lower caste people. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women education in India. Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide's residence or Bhidewada.[1] On 24 September 1873, he, along with his followers, he formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth) to attain equal rights for people from lower castes. People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes. Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Lagrange.
Early life
Phule was born in 1827 into a family that belonged to the Mali caste, traditionally occupied as gardeners, vegetable vendors, and florists, and considered to be one of the Shudra varnas in the ritual ranking system of Hinduism.[2] The original surname of the family had been Gorhe and had its origins in the village of Katgun, in present-day Satara District, Maharashtra. Phule's great-grandfather worked as a chaugula, a lowly type of village servant, in that village but moved to Khanwadi in Pune district. He prospered there but his only son, Shetiba, who was of poor intelligence, subsequently squandered what had been gained. Shetiba moved himself and his family, including three boys, to Poona in search of some form of income. The boys were taken under the wing of a florist, who taught them his trade. Their proficiency in growing and arranging became well known and they adopted the name of Phule (flower-man) in place of Gorhe.[3] Their fulfillment of commissions from the Peshwa, Baji Rao II, for flower mattresses and other goods for the rituals and ceremonies of the royal court so impressed him that he granted them 35 acres (14 ha) of land on the basis of the inam system, whereby no tax would be payable upon it.[2] The oldest brother machinated to take sole control of the property, leaving the younger two siblings, Jyotirao Phule's father, Govindrao, to continue farming and also flower-selling.[3]

Govindrao married Chimnabai and had two sons, of whom Jyotirao was the younger. Chimnabai died before he was aged one.[3] The Mali community did not make room for much by education, and after attending primary school to learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, Jyotirao was withdrawn from school. He joined the menfolk of his family at work, both in the shop and the farm. However, a Christian convert from the same Mali caste as Phule recognised his intelligence and persuaded Phule's father to allow Phule to attend the local Scottish Mission High School.[4][5][b] Phule completed his English schooling in 1847. As was customary, he was married young, at the age of 13, to a girl of his own community, chosen by his father.[7]

The turning point in his life was in 1848, when he attended the wedding of a Brahmin friend. Phule participated in the customary marriage procession, but was later rebuked and insulted by his friend's parents for doing that. They told him that he being from a lower caste should have had the sense to keep away from that ceremony. This incident profoundly affected Phule on the injustice of the caste system.[8]

Social activism
Phule's social activism included many fields including eradication of untouchability and the caste system, education of women and the dalits, and welfare of down trodden women.

Education
In 1848, aged 23, Phule visited the first girls' school in Ahmadnagar, run by Christian missionaries. It was also in 1848 that he read Thomas Paine's book Rights of Man and developed a keen sense of social justice. He realized that lower castes and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society, and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation.[9]To this end and in the same year, Phule first taught reading and writing to his wife, Savitribai, and then the couple started the first indigenously-run school for girls in Pune.[10][c]In his book Gulamgiri, Phule says that the first school was for Brahmin and upper caste girls, however Phule's biographer says it was for low caste girls.[11]The conservative upper caste society of Pune didn't approve his work. But many Indians and Europeans helped him generously.Conservatives in pune also forced his own family and community to ostracize them.During this period, their friend Usman Sheikh and his sister Fatima Sheikh provided them with roof over their heads.They also helped to start the school in their premises.[12] Later, the Phules started schools for children from the then untouchable castes such as Mahar and Mang.[13] In 1852, there were three Phule schools in operation 273 girls were pursuing education in these school but by 1858 they had all closed. Eleanor Zelliot blames the closure on private European donations drying up due to the Indian Mutiny of 1857, withdrawal of government support, and Jyotirao resigning from the school management committee because of disagreement regarding the curriculum.[14]

Women's welfare
He championed widow remarriage and started a home for high caste pregnant widows to give birth in a safe and secure place in 1863.[15] His orphanage was established in an attempt to reduce the rate of infanticide.[16]

Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the lower castes by opening his house and the use of his water-well to the members of the lower castes.[17]

Views on religion and caste
Phule recast the prevailing Aryan invasion theory of history, proposing that the Aryan conquerors of India, whom the theory's proponents considered to be racially superior, were in fact barbaric suppressors of the indigenous people. He believed that they had instituted the caste system as a framework for subjugation and social division that ensured the pre-eminence of their Brahmin successors. He saw the subsequent Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent as more of the same sort of thing, being a repressive alien regime, but took heart in the arrival of the British, whom he considered to be relatively enlightened and not supportive of the varnashramadharma system instigated and then perpetuated by those previous invaders.[18][d] In his book, Gulamgiri, he thanked Christian missionaries and the British colonists for making the lower castes realise that they are worthy of all human rights.[20] The book, whose title transliterates as slavery and which concerned women, caste and reform, was dedicated to the people in the US who were working to end slavery.[21]

Phule saw Rama, the hero of the Indian epic Ramayana, as a symbol of oppression stemming from the Aryan conquest.[22][23] His critique of the caste system began with an attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of upper-caste Hindus.[24] He considered them to be a form of false consciousness.[25]

He is credited with introducing the Marathi word dalit (broken, crushed) as a descriptor for those people who were outside the traditional varna system. The terminology was later popularised in the 1970s by the Dalit Panthers.[26]

At an education commission hearing in 1884, Phule called for help in providing education for lower castes. To implement it, he advocated making primary education compulsory in villages. He also asked for special incentives to get more lower-caste people in high schools and colleges.[27]

Sathyashodhak Samaj
On 24 September 1873, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj to focus on rights of depressed groups such women, the Shudra, and the Dalit.[15][28][29] Through this the samaj he opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system. Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for priests.

Phule established Satyashodhak Samaj with the ideals of human well-being, happiness, unity, equality, and easy religious principles and rituals.[29] A Pune-based newspaper, Deenbandhu, provided the voice for the views of the Samaj.[30]

The membership of the samaj included Muslims, Brahmans and government officials. Phule's own Mali caste provided the leading members and financial supporters for the organization.[28]

Occupation
Apart from his role as a social activist, Phule was a businessman too. In 1882 he styled himself as a merchant, cultivator and municipal contractor.[31] He owned 60 acres (24 ha) of farmland at Manjri, near Pune.[32] For period of time, he worked as a contractor for the government and supplied building materials required for the construction of a dam on the Mula-Mutha river near Pune in the 1870s.[citation needed] He also received contracts to provide labour for the construction of the Katraj Tunnel and the Yerawda Jail near Pune.[33] One of Phule's businesses, established in 1863, was to supply metal-casting equipment.[15]

Phule was appointed commissioner (municipal council member) to the then Poona municipality in 1876 and served in this unelected position until 1883.[34]

Published works
Phule's akhandas were organically linked to the abhangs of Marathi Varkari saint Tukaram.[35] Among his notable published works are:

Tritiya Ratna, 1855
Brahmananche Kasab,1869
Powada : Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosle Yancha, [English: Life Of Shivaji, In Poetical Metre], June 1869
Powada: Vidyakhatyatil Brahman Pantoji, June 1869
Manav Mahammand (Muhammad) (Abhang)
Gulamgiri, 1873
Shetkarayacha Aasud (Cultivator's Whipcord), July 1881
Satsar Ank 1, June 1885
Satsar Ank 2 June 1885
Ishara, October 1885
Gramjoshya sambhandi jahir kabhar, (1886)
Satyashodhak Samajokt Mangalashtakasah Sarva Puja-vidhi, 1887
Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak, April 1889
Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak, 1891
Akhandadi Kavyarachana
Asprashyanchi Kaifiyat

دومينيك راب

دومينيك راب

دومينيك راب (بالإنجليزية: Dominic Raab)‏ هو محامي وسياسي بريطاني، ولد في 25 فبراير 1974 في باكينغهامشير في المملكة المتحدة. حزبياً، نشط في حزب المحافظين.

مناصب
انتخب Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union   (9 يوليو 2018 – 15 نوفمبر 2018).
في انتخابات المملكة المتحدة لعام 2010، انتخب عضو برلمان المملكة المتحدة الـ55 عن دائرة إيشر ووالتن وقد انضم خلال فترته النيابية  (6 مايو 2010 – 30 مارس 2015) للكتلة البرلمانية حزب المحافظين.
في الانتخابات العامة في المملكة المتحدة 2015 ، انتخب عضو برلمان المملكة المتحدة الـ56 عن دائرة إيشر ووالتن وقد انضم خلال فترته النيابية  (8 مايو 2015 – 3 مايو 2017) للكتلة البرلمانية حزب المحافظين.
في الانتخابات التشريعية البريطانية 2017، انتخب عضو برلمان المملكة المتحدة الـ57 عن دائرة إيشر ووالتن وقد انضم خلال فترته النيابية  (8 يونيو 2017 – ) للكتلة البرلمانية حزب المحافظين.

Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab

Dominic Rennie Raab (born 25 February 1974)[1] is a British politician serving as First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since July 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has also been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton since 2010.

Raab was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice on 12 May 2015. When Prime Minister Theresa May appointed her first government a year later, he returned to the backbenches. Following the 2017 general election, he was appointed Minister of State for Courts and Justice. When the government was reshuffled in January 2018, Raab moved to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.[2]

In July 2018, May promoted Raab to his first Cabinet role, becoming Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union following the resignation of David Davis.[3] Raab resigned as Brexit Secretary four months later, in opposition to the Draft Withdrawal Agreement which he had been involved in negotiating with the EU.[4]

After May announced her resignation in May 2019, Raab ran to succeed her in the Conservative Party leadership election. He was eliminated in the second ballot of Conservative MPs and endorsed Boris Johnson, who went on to win. On 24 July 2019, Johnson appointed Raab Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and First Secretary of State.
Early life and education
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1974,[5] Raab is the son of Jean, a clothes buyer, and Peter Raab, a food manager for Marks & Spencer. His father, who was Jewish, came to Britain from Czechoslovakia in 1938 aged six, following the Munich Agreement, which gave parts of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.[6][7][8][9] Raab was brought up in his English mother's faith, in the Church of England.[6] He grew up in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.[10] Raab was twelve years old when his father died of cancer.[citation needed]

Raab attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham before studying law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence. Raab captained the university karate team and shared accommodation facilities with future Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman. He then pursued further studies at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he won the Clive Parry Prize for International Law, and took a Master's degree (LLM).[11][12][13]

Early career
After leaving Cambridge, Raab worked at Linklaters in London, completing his two-year training contract at the firm and then leaving shortly after qualifying as a solicitor in 2000. At Linklaters he worked on project finance, international litigation and competition law. This included time on secondments at Liberty (the human rights NGO) and in Brussels advising on EU and WTO law.[14][third-party source needed] He spent the summer of 1998 at Birzeit University near Ramallah, the PNA's capital in the West Bank, where he worked for one of the principal PLO negotiators of the Oslo peace accords, assessing World Bank projects on the West Bank.

Raab joined the Foreign Office in 2000, covering a range of briefs including leading a team at the British Embassy in The Hague, dedicated to bringing war criminals to justice. After returning to London, he advised on the Arab–Israeli conflict, the European Union and Gibraltar. He defended Tony Blair against a subpoena from former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević. From 2006 to 2010, he worked in Parliament as Chief of Staff to Shadow Home Secretary David Davis and to Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Grieve.

Parliamentary career
Member of Parliament
Raab was elected to Parliament at the 2010 election to represent Esher and Walton, a safe Conservative seat in Surrey, with a total of 32,134 votes (58.9% of the vote)[15] and a majority of 18,593 over his nearest rival.[15]

He lives in and commutes from Thames Ditton, in his constituency. Since being elected he has campaigned for fairer funding for local services in Elmbridge, stronger local democracy in the running of community hospitals in Cobham, Walton and Molesey and more visible and responsive policing, and against the construction of an M25 service station at Downside.[16]

In the House of Commons, Raab spoke in support of the coalition government's plans to cut the budget deficit, expand academy schools, repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006, and enact a Freedom Bill.[17] He criticised the government for opting into the EU directive on the European Investigation Order, arguing it would strain operational policing resources, and would dilute safeguards protecting British citizens from misuse of personal data and guaranteeing a fair trial.[18]

He came to media attention in August 2010, after requesting that the pressure group 38 Degrees remove his parliamentary email address from their website, arguing that lobby groups sending or coordinating 'clone emails' designed to deluge MP's inboxes detracted from their ability to correspond with constituents and help those in real need. 38 Degrees said that the email address is paid for by taxpayers' money and is in the public domain, thus they have every right to host it on their website and use it for campaigning.[19][20]

Raab has participated in debates on giving prisoners the vote and extradition. In April 2011, he also presented an ultimately unsuccessful Ten Minute Rule Bill proposing that emergency service and transport unions should be required by law to ensure that strike votes receive 50% support of union members. Raab argued that reform was needed to prevent "militant union bosses" holding the "hard working majority" to ransom.
On 7 March 2012, Raab opened a debate in the House of Commons on Sergei Magnitsky and Impunity for Gross Human Rights Abuses, calling on the UK government to bring forward legislative proposals that would allow it to impose visa bans and asset freezes on state officials responsible for gross human rights abuses against individuals. The motion was supported by three former Foreign Secretaries and two former Foreign Ministers and had cross-party support[23] and was passed unanimously by MPs.[24]

On 30 January 2014, Raab proposed an amendment to the Immigration Bill to deport all prisoners given a sentence of a year or more. It was defeated, but allowed 99 members to voice that change was necessary to prevent immigrants convicted of crimes from using the ECHR as support to remain in the UK.[25]

In the 2015 general election on 7 May, Raab retained his Esher and Walton seat with a majority of 28,000 votes over his nearest rival.[26] On 12 May, he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice under Michael Gove, with responsibility for human rights questions.[27] In September 2015, in this capacity, he addressed representatives of the 46 other member states of the Council of Europe on the question of the UK's blanket ban on prisoner voting.[28]

In the 2017 general election, Raab was elected with a reduced majority of 23,000.[29]

Libel case
On 30 January 2011, The Mail on Sunday published an article alleging that Raab, in his previous role as Chief of Staff to David Davis in 2007, had paid a female employee £20,000 in an out-of-court settlement as part of a confidentiality agreement to drop a claim of workplace bullying. Raab responded by stating: "This is a smear and any insinuation that I have behaved improperly is false and malicious". He subsequently sued the newspaper for libel. The Mail on Sunday's publisher Associated Newspapers' attempt to stop the action was denied by the High Court in December 2011.[30]

During these proceedings, it was disclosed that the employee had taken a claim against Raab to an employment tribunal, where it was settled with a compromise agreement which included monetary compensation and a confidentiality clause for both parties.[31][32] The newspaper issued an apology on 18 March 2012, stating: "We accept that our allegations were unfounded and we apologise to Mr Raab for the damage, embarrassment and offence caused".[33][34]

Westminster dossier
In late October 2017, a dossier listing allegations of a mainly sexual nature against several dozen Conservative MPs made internally by party researchers was circulated at Westminster and amongst journalists.[35] Raab wrote on his website at the beginning of November that his entry made a false accusation of an "Injunction for inappropriate behaviour with a woman".[36] He commented: "I have never been served with any injunction for anything. Nor have I ever sought one". It was "false and malicious" to make "any insinuation that I have engaged in anything resembling sexual harassment, sexually abusive behaviour or lewd remarks". He believed the dossier itself was a "form of harassment and intimidation".[36] Raab said he was taking legal advice.[35]

Unpaid internship advertisement
In February 2018, Raab advertised for an unpaid intern just ahead of a Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) publication responding to the Taylor review on insecure work. The BEIS report criticised "exploitative unpaid internships", saying "an employer cannot avoid paying someone the minimum wage simply by calling them an 'intern' or saying that they are doing an internship."[37]

Impact of immigration on the housing market
In April 2018, Raab said in an interview that immigration had "put house prices up by something like 20%" over the past 25 years.[38] The UK Statistics Authority asked Raab to publish the evidence for his claim. A document published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows that the finding was based on an out-of-date model that had never been intended for this kind of analysis. Raab defended the model and said: "I did indeed say care was needed with the data, and I was right that immigration put average prices up by 20%. We need a balanced approach."[39]

EU referendum campaign
Raab was an active campaigner in the 2016 EU membership referendum, advocating that Britain should leave the European Union. He said in an interview that it would be better for the British economy to leave: "We'll be better off if we're freed up to trade more energetically with the growth markets like Latin America and Asia. I think it will be good for job creation and also cut prices in the stores." He also argued that there was too much waste and corruption in the EU.[40] During the Brexit campaign, Raab repeatedly argued that there was no doubt that the UK would get a deal with the EU.[41]

Brexit Secretary
On 9 July 2018, following the resignation of David Davis, Raab was appointed Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.[42]

In November 2018, Raab was criticised by Labour's shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, after Raab said that he "hadn't quite understood the full extent" of how much UK trade relies on the Dover-Calais crossing.[43][44]

In June 2019 EU sources claimed that he had been nicknamed "The Turnip" in Brussels, a play on raap, the Dutch word for the vegetable, insinuating EU dissatisfaction with his negotiation strategy.[45]

On 15 November 2018, Raab announced his resignation as Brexit Secretary, citing his disapproval over the Cabinet position on the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.[46] According to a BBC News report, Raab was concerned with "two major and fatal flaws" in the draft agreement, namely that the proposed terms "threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom" and that "they would lead to an indefinite if not permanent situation where [the UK is] locked into a regime with no say over the rules being applied, with no exit mechanism", flaws which would prove "damaging for the economy [and] devastating for public trust in our democracy".[47] While subsequently describing May's deal as worse than remaining in the EU,[48] he voted in favour of it at the occasion of the third vote on the withdrawal agreement on 29 March 2019.[49] While thus voting in favour of the Irish backstop, as Foreign Secretary he subsequently described the backstop as "undemocratic and [...] something that will have to be removed."[50]

Following his resignation, Raab has defended the position that the UK should not pay the so-called Brexit divorce bill (amounting to around £39 billion) in the event of a no-deal Brexit.[51] This bill reflects commitments which the UK entered into for the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2014–2020 and so according to some interpretations is not linked to Britain's exit from the European Union.[52] The House of Lords alternatively has found that the UK would not be liable for such payments.[53]

2019 Conservative Party leadership election
On 25 May 2019, Raab announced he was standing in the Conservative Party leadership election after Theresa May announced her resignation.[54] In the second round of voting, on 18 June, Raab failed to obtain the required minimum number of 33 votes, winning 30 and finishing in sixth place, behind Sajid Javid.[55] After being eliminated, he endorsed the frontrunner Boris Johnson,[56] who subsequently won the contest.

Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State
On 24 July 2019, Boris Johnson appointed Raab Foreign Secretary, succeeding Jeremy Hunt, and handed him the additional title First Secretary of State.[57] On arrival at the Foreign Office, Raab said: "I'm hugely humbled to take on this role at this time and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead."[58]

Shortly after his appointment, during an interview with Mishal Husain, Raab argued that the 2016 Brexit referendum had given the government a mandate to leave without a deal. Following the interview, the BBC reported that the Twitter accounts of Raab, Michael Gove, and the official Vote Leave campaign made no reference to leaving the EU without a deal in the six months leading up to the Brexit vote.[41]

Raab stood in for Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions on 2 October 2019, as First Secretary of State.[59]

On 3 January 2020, the high-level Iranian General, Qasem Soleimani, was assassinated by the United States, which considerably heightened the existing tensions between the two countries. Raab backed the strike, describing the American action as self-defence.[60] He noted that his government had "always recognized the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force".[61]

Raab supported Boris Johnson's decision to allow China's Huawei to build part of UK's 5G network despite U.S. and Australian opposition.[62][63]

On 23 March, during the coronavirus pandemic, the government confirmed that Raab, as First Secretary of State, was to deputise for Boris Johnson if he became "incapacitated" due to COVID-19.[64] On 6 April, after Johnson was admitted to an intensive care unit due to his illness with COVID-19, Raab was asked to deputise for Johnson.[65]

Political positions
Positive discrimination
In July 2010, he secured a review of positive discrimination rules being applied to Foreign and Commonwealth Office work experience schemes, having been contacted by a constituent who had been rejected from the scheme for failing to meet "the social criteria". The two programmes at the organisation barred white males from applying, other than those from low-income backgrounds; Raab argued they re-introduced discrimination 'via the backdoor'.[66] The MP welcomed the review, blaming the situation on the previous Labour government. He stated "positive discrimination is wrong in the same way as negative discrimination. It means people are thinking in terms of social criteria and it is anti-meritocratic."[67]

Palestinian state
In 2011, Raab wrote that "Israeli settlement building undermined prospects for a contiguous Palestinian state."[68]

Prisoners' rights
On 10 February 2011, Raab gave the winding-up speech in the debate on whether to give prisoners the vote, arguing that freedom entails responsibility and that elected lawmakers in the House of Commons rather than "unaccountable" judges in Strasbourg should decide the matter.[69][70]

On 22 June 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report on The Human Rights Implications of British extradition.[71] As a member of the JCHR, Raab proposed that the committee looks into the issue of fast-track extradition of British citizens following several instances of miscarriages of justice. In an article for The Times,[72] Raab argued that more needed to be done to protect British citizens subject to European Arrest Warrants. The JCHR has called for safeguards to ensure warrants are not issued for minor offences and when there is minimal evidence, and for checks to prevent extradition for investigation rather than prosecution. On 24 November 2011, Raab led a debate in the House of Commons calling for extradition reform.[73] His motion had cross-party support, and was backed by Gary McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharpe.[74][75]

The Miller case
On 3 November 2016, and in response to the decision of the High Court in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on whether Her Majesty's Government was entitled to notify an intention to leave the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union without a vote in Parliament, Raab stated that in the 2016 EU membership referendum "the British people gave a clear mandate for the UK Government to leave the EU and take back control of our borders, laws, money and trade. It is disappointing that today the court has chosen to ignore their decision". He went on to state that the decision was "a plain attempt to block Brexit by people who are out of touch with the country and refuse to accept the result. However, the vote to leave the EU was clear and they should not seek to obstruct it".[76]

Saudi Arabia
In October 2018, Raab told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show that the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi was a "terrible case" but the UK government was "not throwing our hands in the air and terminating the relationship with Saudi Arabia, not just because of the huge number of British jobs that depend on it but also because if you exert influence over your partners you need to be able to talk to them... The problem with Labour's position is it would cost thousands of British jobs."[77][78]

Writings
Civil liberties and justice
In 2009, Raab published his first book, The Assault on Liberty – What Went Wrong with Rights.[79] In October 2010, he published Fight Terror, Defend Freedom, a pamphlet on the Home Office counter-terrorism review.[80]

In January 2011, Raab wrote an article on the use of control orders in counter-terrorism cases in which he contended that they are ineffective and should be scrapped with a greater focus on prosecutions.[81]

Raab published a pamphlet with the think tank Civitas entitled Strasbourg in the Dock[82] in April 2011. The pamphlet followed Parliament's recent rejection of a European Court of Human Rights ruling (the Hirst case) that at least some prisoners should have the right to vote. Raab argued that unelected judges had overstepped the mark in relation to the case. The Strasbourg judges are elected by the 324 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, though this is itself not an elected body. Raab contended that many of the judges were lacking experience and as a result "are undermining the credibility and value of the Court".[83] Raab made a range of proposals to strengthen the authority of Britain's Supreme Court, give elected lawmakers the last word on the creation of new rights, and reform the Strasbourg Court.

In July 2011, Raab called for reform of the UK Borders Act 2007 which allows foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming a "right to family life" under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He proposed that the reference to the Human Rights Act be removed. He argued this could be done in a way that ensures foreign criminals could avoid deportation only if there is a "serious risk" they will be tortured on their return.[84]

Equality, meritocracy and positive discrimination
On 30 January 2011, he wrote a comment piece for The Sunday Times on the implementation of the Equality Act. Raab argued for a meritocratic approach against positive discrimination and highlighted the lower standard of human rights protections in extradition cases compared to deportation cases.[85]

In an article in January 2011 on the Politics Home website, Raab argued in favour of transferable paternity leave and against "the equality bandwagon" "pitting men and women against each other". He argued in favour of a consistent approach to sexism against men and women commenting that some feminists were "now amongst the most obnoxious bigots" and it was sexist to blame men for the recession.[86]

Raab highlighted the wide range of sex discrimination faced by males including "anti-male discrimination in rights of maternity/paternity leave", young boys being "educationally disadvantaged compared to girls", and how "divorced or separated fathers are systematically ignored by the courts". Raab stated "from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal. Men work longer hours, die earlier, but retire later than women", noting that the pensions inequalities were still not going to be rectified for another seven years.[87][88]

He was subsequently interviewed on the piece by the London Evening Standard[89] and BBC Radio 4.[90] Theresa May, who was Minister for Women and Equalities at the time, criticised Raab's "obnoxious bigots" comment but agreed with his suggestions on paternity leave and ending gender warfare.[91][92] Her remarks took place during a debate on employment law in the Commons.[93]

Raab's remarks were criticised by some Labour MPs, including Harriet Harman and Nia Griffith, who said Raab should "stop being so self-pitying. The reality is that women with very good qualifications time and time again do not get the top jobs and opportunities."[94] Raab stood by his comments in a comment piece for The Telegraph, highlighting the various statements Harman had made about men, contrasting them with similar comments about women by the likes of Andy Gray.[95] Raab also stated he had received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction to his comments "from both men and women".[96]

In July 2012, Raab published a pamphlet with the Centre for Policy Studies entitled Unleashing the British Underdog: 10 Bets on the Little Guy. In the report, Raab outlines 10 policies to improve social mobility and provide opportunities for those from non-traditional backgrounds to succeed.[97]

After the Coalition
In October 2011, Dominic Raab and four other MPs of the 2010 intake published After the Coalition, an argument that Conservative principles adapted to the modern world would be essential for the future national success of the party. The book was serialised in The Daily Telegraph. Raab wrote his piece for the paper on British foreign policy, arguing it should reflect the national interest: Britain should not overextend itself in foreign conflicts, aid should be focused on the poorest countries and Britain should champion free trade abroad.[98]

Regulation
In November 2011, Raab wrote a pamphlet published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Escaping the Strait Jacket – Ten Regulatory Reforms to Create Jobs. The paper makes the case for reforming red tape to boost job creation on grounds of economic competitiveness and social fairness.[99]

Britannia Unchained
In September 2012 Raab co-authored the book Britannia Unchained. The book addressed issues of the national debt, state education, innovation and work ethic.

Raab called for measures to cut regulation on start-up companies, expand vocational training, reduce childcare costs and lower marginal (income-focused) rates of taxation to "rediscover and reward the lost virtue of hard-work – a tried and tested route to individual success, a more prosperous economy and a fairer society."[100]

Writing on work ethic in The Daily Telegraph, Raab said that longer periods in education, earlier retirement, welfare dependency and high marginal rates of taxation had led to a situation where "(w)e have a smaller proportion of the workforce pedalling harder to sustain the rest – which is economically debilitating and socially divisive."[100]

Personal life
Raab is married to Erika Rey, a Brazilian marketing executive who until 2020 worked for Google.[101] They have two children,[13] and live in Thames Ditton, Surrey.[102]

Raab holds a black belt, third Dan in karate.[6]

Awards
Raab won Newcomer of the Year for 2011 at The Spectator magazine's Parliamentary Awards.[103]

In 2019, LBC's Iain Dale and a "panel of experts" placed Raab fourth in a list of that year's 'Top 100 Most Influential Conservatives'

زياد علي

زياد علي محمد