what is the contentious jurisdiction of the icj

The key principle is that the Court only has jurisdiction on the basis of consent. The court has no true compulsory jurisdiction. Jurisdiction is often a key question for the Court, because it is challenged by the respondent. At the Preliminary Objections phase, a respondent may challenge (i) jurisdiction and/or (ii) admissibility of the case. Article 36 outlines four bases on which the Court's jurisdiction may be founded.

Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice has jurisdiction in two types of cases: contentious cases between states in which the court produces binding rulings between states that agree, or have previously agreed, to submit to the ruling of the court; and advisory opinions, which provide reasoned, but non-binding, rulings on properly submitted questions of international law, usually at the request of the United Nations General Assembly. Advisory opinions do not have to concern particular controversies between states, though they often do.

Only states may be parties in contentious cases before the ICJ. Individuals, corporations, parts of a federal state, NGOs, UN organs and self-determination groups are excluded from direct participation in cases, although the Court may receive information from public international organisations. This does not preclude non-state interests from being the subject of proceedings if one state brings the case against another. For example, a state may, in case of "diplomatic protection", bring a case on behalf of one of its nationals or corporations.

First, 36(1) provides that parties may refer cases to the Court (jurisdiction founded on "special agreement" or compromise). This method is based on explicit consent and is, perhaps, the most effective basis for the Court's jurisdiction. It is effective because the parties concerned have a desire for the Court to resolve the dispute, and are thus more likely to comply with the Court's judgment. Parties will usually define the nature of the dispute between them and the legal questions on which they wish the Court to rule.

Second, 36(1) also gives the Court jurisdiction over "matters specifically provided for... in treaties and conventions in force". Many treaties will contain a compromissory clause, providing for dispute resolution by the ICJ. For instance, Article 32(2) of the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances provides for mediation and other dispute-resolution options, but also states that "[a]ny such dispute which cannot be settled... shall be referred, at the request of any one of the States Parties to the dispute, to the International Court of Justice for decision".[2] Cases founded on compromissory clauses have not been as effective as cases founded on special agreement, since a state may have no interest in having the matter examined by the Court and may refuse to comply with a judgment. Since the 1970s the use of such compromissory clauses has declined. Many modern treaties set out their own dispute-resolution regime, often based on forms of arbitration. In 1987, upon the initiative of Mikhail Gorbachev, all of the permanent members of the Security Council began negotiations for expanding the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ. The content of these negotiations is to date unknown, and no agreements were reached. See Richard B. Bilder, "Judicial Procedures Relating to the Use of Force," ch. 28 in Lori Damrosch & David Scheffer, Law and Force in the New International Order (1991).

Thirdly, Article 36(2) allows states to make declarations accepting the Court's jurisdiction as compulsory ("optional clause declarations"). Not all countries accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, ICJ. For example, Australia accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction "with reservations" whereas Brazil has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, directly. However, Brazil has accepted the compulsory jurisdiction by becoming a Party to the Pact of Bogota.[1]

It was, moreover, to a Brazilian delegate, Raul Fernandes, that the concept of the optional compulsory jurisdiction mechanism was owed. First adopted in 1922 for the Permanent Court of International Justice (the predecessor of the International Court of Justice under the League of Nations), this system was readopted in 1945 for the International Court of Justice. "The 'Fernandes clause' has thus had the merit, not only of having represented a historic step forward for international law, but also of constituting today, for 62 States, one of the bases of the Court's jurisdiction", according to its President.[2]

Finally, 36(5) provides for jurisdiction on the basis of declarations made under the Permanent Court of International Justice's statute. Article 37 of the ICJ's statute similarly transfers jurisdiction under any compromissory clause in a treaty that gave jurisdiction to the PCIJ.

Refer to the Corfu Case.

An advisory opinion is a function of the court open only to specified United Nations bodies and agencies. On receiving a request, the Court decides which States and organizations might provide useful information and gives them an opportunity to present written or oral statements. The Court's advisory opinion procedure is otherwise modelled on that for contentious cases, and the sources of applicable law are the same. In principle the Court's advisory opinions are consultative in character and as such do not generally result in judgments that aim to resolve specific controversies. Certain instruments or regulations can, however, provide in advance that the advisory opinion shall be specifically binding on particular agencies or states.

The advisory opinions of the court are influential and widely respected interpretations of the law, but they are not authoritative, and they are inherently non-binding under the Statute of the Court. Examples of advisory opinions can be found in the section advisory opinions in the List of International Court of Justice cases article.

The relationship between the ICJ and the Security Council, and the separation of their powers, was considered by the Court in 1992, in the Pan Am case. The Court had to consider an application from Libya for the order of provisional measures to protect its rights, which, it alleged, were being infringed by the threat of economic sanctions by the UK and United States. The problem was that these sanctions had been authorised by the Security Council, which resulted with a potential conflict between the Chapter VII functions of the Security Council and the judicial function of the Court. The Court decided, by eleven votes to five, that it could not order the requested provisional measures because the rights claimed by Libya, even if legitimate under the Montreal Convention, could no longer be upheld since the action was justified by the Security Council. In accordance with Article 103 of the UN Charter, obligations under the Charter took precedence over other treaty obligations.

There was a marked reluctance on the part of a majority of the Court to become involved in a dispute in such a way as to bring it potentially into conflict with the Council. The Court stated in the Nicaragua case (Jurisdiction) that there is no necessary inconsistency between action by the Security Council and adjudication by the ICJ. However, where there is room for conflict, the balance appears to be in favour of the Security Council.

Should either party fail "to perform the obligations incumbent upon it under a judgment rendered by the Court", the Security Council may be called upon to "make recommendations or decide upon measures" if the security council deems such actions necessary. In practice, the Court's powers have been limited by the unwillingness of the losing party to abide by the Court's ruling, and by the Security Council's unwillingness to enforce consequences. However, in theory, "so far as the parties to the case are concerned, a judgment of the Court is binding, final and without appeal," and "by signing the Charter, a State Member of the United Nations undertakes to comply with any decision of the International Court of Justice in a case to which it is a party".

For example, in Nicaragua v. United States the United States of America had previously accepted the Court's compulsory jurisdiction upon its creation in 1946 but withdrew its acceptance following the Court's judgment in 1984 that called on the United States to "cease and to refrain" from the "unlawful use of force" against the government of Nicaragua. In a split decision, the majority of the Court ruled the United States was "in breach of its obligation under customary international law not to use force against another state" and ordered the US pay reparations (see note 2), although it never did.

Examples of cases include:

The last example can be used as evidence of the Court's failure to take on politically controversial cases; as the Court has no means to enforce its rulings, its survival is dependent on its political legitimacy. That would be endangered if it constantly came with rulings which states have no interest of taking into consideration. This is one of the Court's major shortcomings: its rulings must be considered in a political context.


what is the population of st. john's newfoundland

Its name has been attributed to the Nativity of John the Baptist, when John Cabot was believed to have sailed into the harbour in 1497 and to a Basque fishing town with the same name. Existing on maps as early as 1519, it is one of the oldest European settlements in North America. It was officially incorporated as a city in 1888. With a metropolitan population of approximately 219,207 (as of July 1, 2017), the St. John's Metropolitan Area is Canada's 20th largest metropolitan area and the second largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Atlantic Canada, after Halifax.[15][16]

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the large Canadian island, Newfoundland.[10] The city spans 446.04 square kilometres (172.22 sq mi) and is North America's easternmost city.[11][12][13][14]

The city has a rich history, having played a role in the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in St. John's.[17] Its history and culture have made it into an important tourist destination.[18]

St. John's is one of North America's oldest European settlements, with fishermen setting up seasonal camps in the early 16th century.[14] Sebastian Cabot declares in a handwritten Latin text in his original 1545 map,[19] that St. John's earned its name when he and his father, the Venetian explorer John Cabot became the first Europeans to sail into the harbour, in the morning of 24 June 1494 (against British and French historians stating 1497),[20] the feast day of Saint John the Baptist.[12] However, the locations of Cabot's landfalls are disputed.[21][22] A series of expeditions to St. John's by Portuguese from the Azores took place in the early 16th century, and by 1540 French, Spanish and Portuguese ships crossed the Atlantic annually to fish the waters off the Avalon Peninsula. In the Basque Country, it is a common belief the name of St. John's was given by Basque fishermen because the bay of St. John's is very similar to the Bay of Pasaia in the Basque Country, where one of the fishing towns is called St. John (in Spanish, San Juan, and in Basque, Donibane).[13]

The earliest record of the location appears as São João on a Portuguese map by Pedro Reinel in 1519. When John Rut visited St. John's in 1527 he found Norman, Breton and Portuguese ships in the harbour. On 3 August 1527, Rut wrote a letter to King Henry on the findings of his voyage to North America; this was the first known letter sent from North America. St. Jehan is shown on Nicolas Desliens' world map of 1541 and San Joham is found in João Freire's Atlas of 1546.[23]

On 5 August 1583, an English Sea Dog, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the area as England's first overseas colony under Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I.[24] There was no permanent population, however, and Gilbert was lost at sea during his return voyage, thereby ending any immediate plans for settlement.[13] The Newfoundland National War Memorial is on the waterfront in St. John's, at the purported site of Gilbert's landing and proclamation.

By 1620, the fishermen of England's West Country controlled most of Newfoundland's east coast.[25] In 1627, William Payne, called St. John's "the principal prime and chief lot in all the whole country."

Sometime after 1630, the town of St. John's was established as a permanent community.[26] Before this they were expressly forbidden by the English government, at the urging of the West Country fishing industry, from establishing permanent settlements along the English controlled coast.

The population grew slowly in the 17th century: St. John's was Newfoundland's largest settlement when English naval officers began to take censuses around 1675.[23] The population grew in the summers with the arrival of migratory fishermen.[13] In 1680, fishing ships (mostly from South Devon) set up fishing rooms at St. John's, bringing hundreds of Irish men into the port to operate inshore fishing boats.[23]

The town's first significant defenses were likely erected due to commercial interests, following the temporary seizure of St. John's by the Dutch admiral Michiel de Ruyter in June 1665.

The inhabitants fended off a second Dutch attack in 1673, when it was defended by Christopher Martin, an English merchant captain. Martin landed six cannons from his vessel, the Elias Andrews, and constructed an earthen breastwork and battery near Chain Rock commanding the Narrows leading into the harbour. With only 23 men, the valiant Martin beat off an attack by three Dutch warships. The English government planned to expand these fortifications (Fort William) in around 1689, but construction didn't begin until after the French admiral Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captured and destroyed the town in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign (1696). When 1500 English reinforcements arrived in late 1697, they found rubble where the town and fortifications had stood.

The French attacked St. John's again in 1705 (Siege of St. John's), and captured it in 1708 (Battle of St. John's), devastating civilian structures with fire on each instance.[23]
The harbour remained fortified through most of the 18th and 19th centuries.[13] The final battle of the Seven Years' War in North America (the French and Indian War) was fought in 1762, in St. John's.[13] Following a surprise capture of the town by the French early in the year, the British responded and, at the Battle of Signal Hill, the French surrendered St. John's to British forces under the command of Colonel William Amherst.[23][27]

In the late 1700s Fort Amherst and Fort Waldegrave were built to defend the harbour entrance.[28]

There has been some controversy regarding which European settlement is the oldest in North America. As mentioned above, while English fishermen had set up seasonal camps in St. John's in the 16th century, they were expressly forbidden by the English government, at the urging of the West Country fishing industry, from establishing permanent settlements along the English-controlled coast. As a result, the town of St. John's was not established as a 'permanent' community until after the 1630s.[26] With respect to the oldest surviving permanent English settlements in North America, it was preceded by Jamestown, Virginia (1607),[29] the Cuper's Cove colony at Cupids (1610), St. George's, Bermuda (1612)[30] and the Bristol's Hope colony at Harbour Grace (1618).[31]

The United Irish Uprising began with rumours in April 1800 that as many as 400 men took a secret oath of the Society of United Irishmen and rebelled against the British Army.[32]

The 18th century saw major changes in Newfoundland: population growth, beginnings of government, establishment of churches, reinforcement of commercial ties with North America and development of the seal, salmon and Grand Banks fisheries. St. John's population grew slowly. Although it was primarily a fishing station, it was also a garrison, a centre of government and a commercial hub. St. John's served as a naval base during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.[23]

The core of the city was destroyed by fire several times, the most famous of which was the Great Fire of 1892.[33]

Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in St. John's on 12 December 1901 from his wireless station in Poldhu, Cornwall.[17] St. John's was the starting point for the first non-stop transatlantic aircraft flight, by Alcock and Brown in a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber, in June 1919, departing from Lester's Field in St. John's and ending in a bog near Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.[34] In July 2005, the flight was duplicated by American aviator and adventurer Steve Fossett in a replica Vickers Vimy aircraft, with St. John's International Airport substituting for Lester's Field (now an urban and residential part of the city).[35]

During the Second World War, the harbour supported Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy ships that were engaged in anti-submarine warfare. It was the site of an American Army Air Force base, Fort Pepperrell, that was established as part of the "Lend-Lease" Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United Kingdom and United States.[13] The base included several US-manned coast defence guns, and a Canadian-manned battery of two Lend-Lease 10-inch M1888 guns was at Fort Cape Spear.[36][37] The base was transferred to Canadian control in 1960 and is now known as CFS St. John's. The Knights of Columbus Hostel fire in December 1942 saw 99 military and civilian lives lost.[38]

St. John's, and the province as a whole, was gravely affected in the 1990s by the collapse of the northern cod fishery, which had been the driving force of the provincial economy for hundreds of years.[39] After a decade of high unemployment rates and depopulation, the city's proximity to the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose oil fields led to an economic boom that spurred population growth and commercial development. As a result, the St. John's area now accounts for about half of the province's economic output.[40][41]

As of 2012, St. John's contained 21 National Historic Sites of Canada.[42][43]

St. John's is along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, on the northeast of the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland.[10] The city covers 446.04 square kilometres (172.22 sq mi) and is North America's most easterly city, excluding Greenland;[11] it is 475 kilometres (295 mi) closer to London, England than it is to Edmonton, Alberta.[44] The city of St. John's is a distance by air of 3,636 kilometres (2,259 mi) from Lorient, France which lies on a nearly identical latitude across the Atlantic on the French western coast. The city is the largest in the province and the second largest in the Atlantic Provinces after Halifax, Nova Scotia.[45] Its downtown area lies to the west and north of St. John's Harbour, and the rest of the city expands from the downtown to the north, south, east and west.

Coniferous trees such as black spruce, white spruce, and balsam fir dominate the native vegetation. The largest deciduous tree is white birch; species of lesser stature include alder, cherry and mountain ash. Of introduced tree species, sycamore maple is most abundant and Norway maple is common. Blue spruce, common horsechestnut, European beech and littleleaf linden are among the other non-native species grown.[46]

St. John's has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with lower seasonal variation than normal for the latitude, which is due to Gulf Stream moderation.

Despite this maritime moderation, average January maximum temperatures are slightly lower in St. John's than in Kelowna, British Columbia, an inland city that is near the more marine air of the Pacific, demonstrating the cold nature of Eastern Canada. Mean temperatures range from −4.9 °C (23.2 °F) in February to 16.1 °C (61.0 °F) in August, showing somewhat of a seasonal lag in the climate. The city is also one of the areas of the country most prone to tropical cyclone activity, as it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, where tropical storms (and sometimes hurricanes) travel from the United States. The city is one of the rainiest in Canada outside of coastal British Columbia. This is partly due to its propensity for tropical storm activity as well as moist, Atlantic air frequently blowing ashore and creating precipitation.

Of major Canadian cities, St. John's is the foggiest (124 days),[47] windiest (24.3 km/h (15.1 mph) average speed),[48] and cloudiest (1,497 hours of sunshine).[49] Precipitation is frequent and often heavy, falling year round. On average, summer is the driest season, with only occasional thunderstorm activity, and the wettest months are from October to January, with December the wettest single month, with nearly 165 millimetres of precipitation on average. This winter precipitation maximum is unusual for humid continental climates, which typically have a late spring or early summer precipitation maximum (for example, most of the Midwestern U.S.). Most heavy precipitation events in St. John's are the product of intense mid-latitude storms from the Northeastern U.S. and New England states, and these are most common and intense from October to March, bringing heavy precipitation (commonly 4 to 8 centimetres of rainfall equivalent in a single storm), and strong winds.

In winter, two or more types of precipitation (rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow) can fall from passage of a single storm. Snowfall is heavy, averaging nearly 335 centimetres per winter season. However, winter storms can bring changing precipitation types. Heavy snow can turn into heavy rain, melting the snow cover, and possibly back to snow or ice (perhaps briefly) all in the same storm, resulting in little or no net snow accumulation. Snow cover in St. John's is variable, and especially early in the winter season, may be slow to develop, but can extend well into the spring months (March, April). The St. John's area is subject to freezing rain events (called "silver thaws"), the worst of which paralyzed the city in April 1984 and April 2017.

The highest temperature ever recorded in St. John's was 33.9 °C (93 °F) on 14 August 1876.[50] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −29.4 °C (−21 °F) on 16 February 1875.[51]

St. John's architecture has a distinct style from the rest of Canada, and its major buildings are remnants of its history as one of the first British colonial capitals. Buildings took a variety of styles according to the means available to build them.

Starting as a fishing outpost for European fishermen, St. John's consisted mostly of the homes of fishermen, sheds, storage shacks, and wharves constructed out of wood. Like many other cities of the time, as the Industrial Revolution took hold and new methods and materials for construction were introduced, the landscape changed as the city grew. The Great Fire of 1892 destroyed most of the downtown core, and most residential and other wood-frame buildings date from this period.[33]

Often compared to San Francisco due to the hilly terrain and steep maze of residential streets, housing in St. John's is typically painted in bright colours.[56] The city council has implemented strict heritage regulations in the downtown area, including restrictions on the height of buildings.[57] These regulations have caused much controversy over the years. With the city experiencing an economic boom a lack of hotel rooms and office space has seen proposals put forward that do not meet the current height regulations. Heritage advocates argue the current regulations should be enforced while others believe the regulations should be relaxed to encourage economic development.[58][59][60][61]

To meet the need for more office space downtown without compromising the city's heritage, the city council amended heritage regulations, which originally restricted height to 15 metres in the area of land on Water Street between Bishop's Cove and Steer's Cove, to create the "Commercial Central Retail â€“ West Zone". The new zone will allow for buildings of greater height. A 47-metre, 12-storey office building, which includes retail space and a parking garage, was the first building to be approved in this area.[62]

As of the 2006 Census, there were 100,646 inhabitants in St. John's itself, 151,322 in the urban area and 181,113 in the St. John's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA).[66] Thus, St. John's is Newfoundland and Labrador's largest city and Canada's 20th largest CMA.[67] Apart from St. John's, the CMA includes 12 other communities: the city of Mount Pearl and the towns of Conception Bay South, Paradise, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, Torbay, Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, Pouch Cove, Flatrock, Bay Bulls, Witless Bay, Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove and Bauline.[66] The population of the CMA was 192,326 as of 1 July 2010.[68]

As of 2011, there were 4,205 members of visible minorities in the city. The largest visible minority group were South Asians (1.2%), followed by Chinese Canadian (1.0%), and Blacks (0.9%). There were 4,305 Aboriginals in St. John's, comprising 4.1% of the city's population. First Nations people made up 2.9% of the city's population, Inuit comprised 0.8% of St. John's population, and 0.6% were Métis.[69]

The information below is from the 2001 Canadian Census.[70] and the National Household Survey 2011[71]

Predominantly Christian, the population of St. John's was once divided along sectarian (Catholic/Protestant) lines. In recent years, this sectarianism has declined significantly, and is no longer a commonly acknowledged facet of life in St. John's. St. John's is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John's, and the Anglican Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. All major Christian sects showed a decline from 2001â€“2011 with a large increase in those with no religion from 3.9% to 11.1%.

St. John's economy is connected to both its role as the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the ocean. The civil service which is supported by the federal, provincial and municipal governments has been the key to the expansion of the city's labour force and to the stability of its economy, which supports a sizable retail, service and business sector.[72] The provincial government is the largest employer in the city, followed by Memorial University.[73][74]
With the collapse of the fishing industry in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1990s, the role of the ocean is now tied to what lies beneath it – oil and gas – as opposed to what swims in or travels across it.[75] The city is the centre of the oil and gas industry in Eastern Canada and is one of 19 World Energy Cities.[76] ExxonMobil Canada is headquartered in St. John's and companies such as Chevron, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Statoil have major regional operations in the city.[77][78] Three major offshore oil developments, Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose, are in production off the coast of the city and a fourth development, Hebron, is expected to be producing oil by 2017.[79][80]

The economy has been growing quickly in recent years. In 2010 and 2011, the metro area's gross domestic product (GDP) led 27 other metropolitan areas in the country, according to the Conference Board of Canada, recording growth of 6.6 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.[81] At $52,000 the city's per capita GDP is the second highest out of all major Canadian cities.[82] Economic forecasts suggest that the city will continue its strong economic growth in the coming years not only in the "oceanic" industries mentioned above, but also in tourism and new home construction as the population continues to grow. In May 2011, the city's unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent, the second lowest unemployment rate for a major city in Canada.[83]

St. John's is also becoming known as an entrepreneurial city. In a 2009 report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Communities in Boom: Canadaâ€™s Top Entrepreneurial Cities, St. John's was ranked the best major city in Atlantic Canada and 19th overall in Canada for providing a good environment for small business development.[84]

The downtown area is the cultural hub of St. John's and is a major tourist destination in Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada. Water Street and Duckworth Street are known for their brightly coloured low rise heritage buildings, housing numerous tourist shops, clothing boutiques, and restaurants.

George Street, a downtown side-street above the western end of Water Street, is the predominant home of the city's nightlife. It holds numerous annual festivals including the George Street Festival in August and the Mardi Gras Festival in October. The street can be credited with kick-starting the careers of many musical acts and is busy nearly every night of the week.[85][86]

The city has a symphony orchestra, a string quartet, and several choirs. In addition the School of Music of Memorial University of Newfoundland has several ensembles, including a chamber orchestra. St. Johns also plays host to the Tuckamore Festival of chamber music, which has been held every August since 2001. Opera on the Avalon puts on performances of opera, over several days, in the summer

The LSPU Hall is home to the Resource Centre for the Arts. The "Hall" hosts a vibrant and diverse arts community and is regarded as the backbone of artistic infrastructure and development in the downtown.[87] The careers of many well-known Newfoundland artists were launched there including Rick Mercer, Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones, Andy Jones and Greg Thomey. The St. John's Arts and Culture Centre houses an art gallery, libraries and a 1000-seat theatre, which is the city's major venue for entertainment productions.[88]

The Nickel Film Festival and the St. John's International Women's Film Festival are two independent film festivals held annually in St. John's.[89]

The Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador (c. 1892â€“93) was located on Duckworth Street in a building designated as a heritage site by the City of St. John's.[90] In 2005 the museum, along with the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, moved into The Rooms. The Rooms is Newfoundland and Labrador's cultural facility, and is located in the downtown area.[91]

Other museums include the Railway Coastal Museum, a transportation museum located in the 104-year-old Newfoundland and Labrador train station building on Water Street.[92] The Johnson Geo Centre is a geological interpretation centre located on Signal Hill.[93] The centre is designed to teach the public about the history of the earth through the unique and complex geological history of Newfoundland and Labrador. The East Rider Motorcycle Museum showcases over 110 years of Newfoundland's Motorcycle History, with two floors of bikes, memorabilia, and biker culture. Located downtown St. John's (above East Rider Motorcycle Gear Shop).

The Murray Premises is a National Historic Site located in downtown St. John's.[94] The buildings once served as a fishery premises, with facilities for drying and packaging fish and warehouses for fish, barrels and other items. The oldest of the buildings is the one facing on Beck's Cove. It was built after the 1846 fire and for a time served as both shop and house. The Murray Premises was renovated in 1979 and now contains office suites, restaurants, retail stores and a boutique hotel.[95][96]

Another National Historic Site is Signal Hill is a hill which overlooks the city of St. John's. It is the location of Cabot Tower which was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The first transatlantic wireless transmission was received here by Guglielmo Marconi on 12 December 1901.[97] Today, Signal Hill is a National Historic Site of Canada and remains incredibly popular amongst tourists and locals alike; 97% of all tourists to St. John's visit Signal Hill. Amongst its popular attractions are the Signal Hill Tattoo, showcasing the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of foot, c. 1795, and the North Head Trail which grants an impressive view of the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding coast.[98]

Pippy Park is an urban park in the east end of the city; with over 3,400 acres (14Â km2) of land, it is one of Canada's largest urban parks. The park contains a range of recreational facilities including two golf courses, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest serviced campground, walking and skiing trails as well as protected habitat for many plants and animals. Pippy Park is also home to the Fluvarium, an environmental education centre which offers a cross section view of Nagle's Hill Brook.[99]

Bowring Park, located in the Waterford Valley, is one of the most scenic parks in St. John's. Entrance to the park is via Waterford Bridge Road, passing a sculptured duck pond and a statue of Peter Pan. The park land was donated to the city in 1911 by Sir Edgar Rennie Bowring on behalf of Bowring Brothers Ltd. on their 100th anniversary of commerce in Newfoundland. The park was officially opened by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught on 15 July 1914.[100]

Bannerman Park is a Victorian-style park located near the downtown. The park was officially opened in 1891 by Sir Alexander Bannerman, Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland who donated the land to create the park.[101] Today the park contains a public swimming pool, playground, a baseball diamond and many large open grassy areas. Bannerman Park plays host to many festivals and sporting events, most notably the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival and St. John's Peace-a-chord. The park is also the finishing location for the annual Tely 10 Mile Road Race.[102]

St. John's has been home to several professional hockey franchises. The St. John's Maple Leafs were an American Hockey League (AHL) team from 1991 to 2005. The team left after the 2004â€“05 season to Toronto due to the desire of its parent team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to reduce travel costs and to have a tenant for its Ricoh Coliseum.[103]

Shortly after, the Maple Leafs were replaced by the St. John's Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The team left St. John's in 2008 after just three seasons due to a poor lease arrangement with the city over the use of Mile One Centre and poor attendance.[104][105]

From 2011 until 2017, it was home to the St. John's IceCaps in the AHL.[106] The IceCaps operated under two separate franchises and affiliations during its time in St John's; the first owned by the Winnipeg Jets' True North Sports & Entertainment and the second by the Montreal Canadiens' Molson family. Both franchises were relocated to be closer to their parent team.

In 2018, the ECHL approved an expansion team for St. John's with the Newfoundland Growlers to begin play in the fall of 2018. The team is expected to become the ECHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs bringing the Leafs back to St. Johns for the first time since 2005.

The St. John's Edge is a Canadian professional basketball team based in National Basketball League of Canada that launched as an expansion team for the 2017–18 season at the Mile One Centre.[107] The team is owned by Atlantic Sport Enterprises Ltd. headed by John Graham with Irwin Simon and Robert Sabbagh.[108] The team replaced the IceCaps as the primary tenant at the Mile One Centre after their departure.

The rugby union team The Rock is the Eastern Canadian entry in the Americas Rugby Championship. The Rock play their home games at Swilers Rugby Park, as did the Rugby Canada Super League champions for 2005 and 2006, the Newfoundland Rock. The city hosted a Rugby World Cup qualifying match between Canada and the USA on 12 August 2006, where the Canadians heavily defeated the USA 56â€“7 to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup finals in France. The 2007 age-grade Rugby Canada National Championship Festival was held in the city.[109]

St. John's is home to North America's oldest annual sporting event, the Royal St. John's Regatta, which dates back to at least 1816. The event is important enough in the life of the city that the day of the Regatta (the first Wednesday in August, weather permitting) is a civic holiday â€“ one of the few weather-dependent holidays in the world.[110]

The Tely 10 is an annual 10-mile (16Â km) road race that starts in Paradise and finishes at Bannerman Park. The race draws in excess of 2,500 runners. It began in 1922, which makes it one of the oldest road races in Canada.[111]

St. John's was where the Canada men's national soccer team qualified for their only FIFA World Cup on 14 September 1985, when they defeated Honduras 2â€“1, at King George V Park.[112]

Curling has gained prominence in St. John's over the years. The 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's curling championship, was held at Mile One Centre from 19 to 27 February 2005.[113] The 2006 Olympic gold medalist men's curling team, skipped by Brad Gushue, is based in St. John's at the Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club.[114] Gushue and his team launched a campaign to return the Brier to the province for 2017, a successful bid. They would go on to win the Brier as well as representing Canada at the World Championships three weeks later going undefeated and winning the gold medal. The Brier win was the second for the province (1976) and the second time as event host (1972). The city has two curling clubs, the St. John's Curling Club and the Bally Haly.

The St. John's Avalon Harps are the local Hurling and Gaelic Football team, that compete in Canadian GAA events.

St. John's is governed by a mayor-council system, and the structure of the municipal government is stipulated by the City of St. John's Act.[115][116] The St. John's City Council is a unicameral legislative body composed of a mayor, deputy mayor and nine councillors. The mayor, deputy mayor and four of the councillors are elected at large while the five other councillors represent geographical wards throughout the city. The mayor and members of the city council serve four-year terms without term limits.[117]

Elections in St. John's are held every four years on the last Tuesday in September. The current city council was elected in the municipal election held on 26 September 2017. The Mayor of St. John's is Danny Breen.[118] The St. John's City Hall, located on New Gower Street, has housed municipal offices and Council Chambers since being officially opened in 1970.[95][119]

St. John's served as the capital city of the Colony of Newfoundland and the Dominion of Newfoundland before Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province in 1949.[120] The city now serves as the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, therefore the provincial legislature is located in the city.[121] The Confederation Building, located on Confederation Hill, is home to the House of Assembly along with the offices for the Members of the House of Assembly (MHAs) and Ministers.[121] The city is represented by ten MHAs, four who are members of the governing Progressive Conservative Party, three that belong to the New Democratic Party (NDP),[122] and three that belong to the Liberal Party.[123] Lorraine Michael, leader of the NDP since 2006, represents the district of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.[124]

St. John's is represented in the House of Commons by two members of Parliament, both from the Liberal Party. Nick Whalen represents St. John's East[125][126] and Seamus O'Regan represents St. John's Southâ€”Mount Pearl.[127][128]

The Newfoundland and Labrador office for the regional federal minister is in downtown St. John's. Regional offices for federal government departments and agencies are throughout the city.[129][130]

Police services for the city are provided by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, which serves as the primary policing body of the metropolitan area.[131] The B Division headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is located in the Pleasantville neighbourhood but the RCMP primarily operate in the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador and not St. John's.[132]

St. John's has traditionally been one of the safest cities in Canada to live; however, in recent years crime in the city has steadily increased. While nationally crime decreased by 4% in 2009, the total crime rate in St. John's saw an increase of 4%. During this same time violent crime in the city decreased 6%, compared to a 1% decrease nationally.[133][134] In 2010 the total crime severity index for the city was 101.9, an increase of 10% from 2009 and 19.2% above the national average. The violent crime severity index was 90.1, an increase of 29% from 2009 and 1.2% above the national average. St. John's had the seventh-highest metropolitan crime index and twelfth-highest metropolitan violent crime index in the country in 2010.[135]

According to Statistics Canada's Juristat reports (1993â€“2007), the metropolitan area reports an average homicide rate of approximately 1.15 per 100,000 population; an average of two homicides per year. An all-time high rate of 2.27 was reported in 1993 (four homicides). This figure is far below the national average and ranks amongst the lowest rates for any metropolitan area in Canada.[136]

St. John's has a substantial harbour. Among other things, the harbour is the base for the following Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) ships:

St. John's is served by St. John's International Airport (YYT), located 10 minutes northwest of the downtown core.[137] In 2011, roughly 1,400,000 passengers travelled through the airport making it the second busiest airport in Atlantic Canada in passenger volume.[138][139] Regular destinations include Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, as well as destinations throughout the province. International locations include Dublin, London, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Glasgow and Varadero. Scheduled service providers include Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Air Saint-Pierre, Air Transat, United Airlines, Porter Airlines, Provincial Airlines, Sunwing Airlines and Westjet.[140]

St. John's is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway, one of the longest national highways in the world.[141] The divided highway, also known as "Outer Ring Road," runs just outside the main part of the city, with exits to Pitts Memorial Drive, Topsail Road, Team Gushue Highway, Thorburn Road, Allandale Road, Portugal Cove Road and Torbay Road, providing relatively easy access to neighbourhoods served by those streets. Pitts Memorial Drive runs from Conception Bay South, through the city of Mount Pearl and into downtown St. John's, with interchanges for Goulds, Water Street and Hamilton Avenue-New Gower Street.

The St. John's Cycling Master Plan was officially launched in July 2009. Its first phase will consist of 43 kilometres (27 mi) of on-road painted bike lanes, signs on an additional 73 kilometres (45 mi) of roadway, the installation of 20 bicycle parking facilities and the addition of bike racks on the fleet of 53 Metrobuses.[142]

Metrobus Transit is responsible for public transit in the region.[143] Metrobus has a total of 19 routes, 53 buses and an annual ridership of 3,014,073.[144] Destinations include the Avalon Mall, The Village Shopping Centre, Memorial University, Academy Canada, the College of the North Atlantic, the Marine Institute, the Confederation Building, downtown, Stavanger Drive Business Park, Kelsey Drive, Goulds, Kilbride, Shea Heights, the four hospitals in the city as well as other important areas in St. John's and Mount Pearl.[145]

St. John's was the eastern terminus of the Newfoundland Railway from 1898 until the abandonment and closure of the railway in September 1988.[146]

St. John's is served by Eastern Health, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health authority.[147] The city's major hospitals include the Health Sciences Centre, St. Clare's Mercy Hospital, Waterford Hospital and the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre.[148]

St. John's is served by the Eastern School District, the largest in Newfoundland and Labrador by student population.[149] There are 36 primary, elementary and secondary schools in the city of St. John's, including three private schools.[150] St. John's has one school that is part of the province-wide Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF), the Francophone public school district. It has two private schools, St. Bonaventure's College and Lakecrest Independent.[151][152]

Atlantic Canada's largest university, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), is in St. John's.[153] MUN provides comprehensive education and grants degrees and its historical strengths in engineering, business, geology, and medicine make MUN one of the top comprehensive universities in Canada.[154][155] The Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MI or simply Marine Institute) is a post-secondary ocean and marine polytechnic in St. John's and is affiliated with Memorial University of Newfoundland. MUN offers the lowest tuition in Canada ($2,644, per academic year).[156]

The College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is the public college of the province and operates two main campuses in the city.[157] CNA provides career, trade, and university-transfer programs for St. John's residents.[158]

The city hosts several private colleges and post-secondary schools; Academy Canada, Eastern College, and Keyin College are the largest of these.[159]

St. John's has one daily newspaper, The Telegram.[160] Other local papers include The Muse, The Gazette, Le Gaboteur, The Scope, The Business Post and The Current. St. John's also receives the nationally distributed newspaper The Globe and Mail.[161][162][163][164]

CJON-DT, known on air as "NTV", is an independent station. The station sublicenses entertainment programming from Global and news programming from CTV and Global, rather than purchasing primary broadcast rights. Rogers Cable has its provincial headquarters in St. John's, and their community channel Rogers TV airs local shows such as Out of the Fog and One Chef One Critic. CBC has its Newfoundland and Labrador headquarters in the city and their television station CBNT-DT broadcasts from University Avenue.

The city is home to 15 AM and FM radio stations, two of which are French-language stations. St. John's is the only Canadian city served by radio stations whose call letters do not all begin with the letter C. The ITU prefix VO was assigned to the Dominion of Newfoundland before the province joined Canadian Confederation in 1949, and three AM stations kept their existing call letters. However, other commercial radio stations in St. John's that went to air after 1949 use the same range of prefixes (CF–CK) currently in use elsewhere in Canada, with the exception of VOCM-FM, which was permitted to adopt the VOCM callsign because of its corporate association with the AM station that already bore that callsign. VO remains in use in amateur radio.

allNewfoundlandLabrador is the city's daily online newspaper, which focuses on business news from across the province.[165]


did the person who played mark sloan die in real life

Eric Dane (born Eric T. Melvin, November 9, 1972)[1][2] is an American actor. After appearing in television roles throughout the 2000s such as Charmed, he became known for playing Dr. Mark Sloan on the medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy, as well as films, co-starring in Marley & Me (2008), Valentine's Day (2010), and Burlesque (2010). He stars as Captain Tom Chandler in the apocalyptic drama The Last Ship.

Eric Dane

Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy

Dane was born in San Francisco, California,[1] to a homemaker mother and an interior designer/architect father,[3] William Melvin.[4][5] When Dane was 7 years old, his father died of a gunshot wound.[6][7] Dane has a younger brother,[8] and they were raised in their mother's Jewish religion (Dane had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony).[9][10][11] He attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California, from 1987 to 1990, and San Mateo High School in San Mateo, California, from 1990 to 1991, where he graduated. Dane was an athlete in high school, playing on the boys' varsity water polo team,[12] but pursued a career in acting after appearing in a school production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.[13][14]

In 1993, Dane moved to Los Angeles,[12] where he played small roles in the television series Saved by the Bell, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, and Married... with Children, among others. But in 2000, he was signed for a recurring role in Gideon's Crossing, and followed this with a two-season run in Charmed. His made-for-television film credits included two biopics, Serving in Silence (about Margarethe Cammermeyer's experiences in the military), and Helter Skelter, in which he portrayed Charles "Tex" Watson, a member of the Manson family.

Dane's first major feature film appearance was in The Basket. He also appeared in Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane, Sol Goode, Feast, X-Men: The Last Stand, and starred in Open Water 2. In 2005, Dane guested as Dr. Mark Sloan (nicknamed "McSteamy" by Meredith Grey) in "Yesterday", the eighteenth episode of the second season of the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Positive audience reaction to the character led to Dane's becoming a regular in the show's third season. His first appearance in the season, in which he walked out of the bathroom soaking wet and wearing only a strategically placed towel, was labeled a "watercooler moment".[15] Dane resigned from the show after the end of season 8, but appeared in the first two episodes of season 9.

In December 2006, he starred in the A&E television film Wedding Wars as the brother of a gay man (played by John Stamos) who goes on strike in support of marriage equality. Dane, alongside Patrick Dempsey, appeared in the same big-screen project, the 2010 romantic comedy Valentine's Day. The Garry Marshall-directed film followed five interconnecting stories about Los Angelenos anticipating (or in some cases dreading) the holiday.[16]

In October 2012, Dane joined the main cast of the Michael Bay-produced TNT drama series The Last Ship.[17] He is also credited as a producer on the show.

Dane married actress Rebecca Gayheart on October 29, 2004. They have two daughters together: Billie Beatrice Dane (born March 3, 2010) and Georgia Geraldine Dane (born December 28, 2011).[18][19][20] In February 2018, Gayheart filed for divorce from Dane after 14 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences".[21]

Dane made headlines when he participated in a nude tape with his wife and Kari Ann Peniche.[22]

In June 2011, Dane entered a California treatment center to rectify a dependency on prescription drugs he had developed after suffering a sports injury.[23]

In April 2017, The Last Ship halted production through Memorial Day to allow Dane to deal with the depression he was suffering.[24]


when was yazz the only way is up

The Yazz version was produced by Jonathan More and Matt Black (better known as dance duo Coldcut, who had worked with Yazz on their hit single "Doctorin' the House"). Released as a single in July 1988, "The Only Way Is Up" became an instant smash hit, spending five weeks at number one in the United Kingdom, and ultimately becoming the second biggest selling single of the year. In the United States, however, it fared less well, peaking at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100, though it did reach number two on the Billboard dance chart.[4]

The Only Way Is Up

"The Only Way Is Up" is a song written by George Jackson and Johnny Henderson and originally released in 1980 as a single by soul singer Otis Clay.[2] In 1988, it became a chart-topping single for Yazz and the Plastic Population. The song is the official theme tune for award-winning ITV2 series The Only Way Is Essex. The song was a favourite of M People's, who would frequently play it on their live tours. The band's lead singer, Heather Small, has described it as her favourite song, and once explained that, should she ever be anywhere, this is the song that she would sing.

The song was first recorded by Otis Clay and released as a single on the Echo label in 1980.[2] Though not a hit at the time, the song became the title track of Clay's 1982 LP, The Only Way Is Up.[3]

The cover version's opening horn blast is a sample from Sharon Redd's 1982 dance classic "Beat the Street".

A 2009 remix was released in the United Kingdom on 7 September 2009.[5]

After leaving school, Yazz got a job in a nightclub in Soho and got into her first band called The Biz. She then met the managers of English musical duo Wham! who would be her managers. She took singing lessons and made demo songs that was introduced to electronic music duo Coldcut.[6] Together, they wrote "Doctorin' the House" which incorporates samples from various sources, mainly TV and film dialogue. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart in March 1988 and was very popular in the clubs. Their second single, the pumping house version of "The Only Way Is Up" was released in July 1988 and become a huge hit in the clubs and on the charts. It spent five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart and became the second biggest selling single of the year. "The Only Way Is Up" also reached number one on the charts in Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden.

7" single / CD single / cassette

12" maxi

12" maxi

12" maxi â€“ Remixes


what does the song o holy night mean

"O Holy Night" (French: "Minuit Chretiens!" or "Cantique de Noël") is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians) written by a wine merchant and poet, Placide Cappeau (1808–1877). In both the French original and the two familiar English versions of the carol, as well as many other languages, the text reflects on the birth of Jesus and on humanity's redemption.

O Holy Night

In Roquemaure at the end of 1843, the church organ had recently been renovated. To celebrate the event, the parish priest asked Cappeau, a native of the town, to write a Christmas poem, even though the latter had never showed any interest in religion, and Cappeau obliged.[1] Soon afterwards, Adam wrote the music. The song was premiered in Roquemaure in 1847 by the opera singer Emily Laurey. Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight, editor of Dwight's Journal of Music, created a singing edition based on Cappeau's French text in 1855.[2]

The song has been recorded by numerous well-known popular-music, classical-music, and religious-music singers. Some milestones include:


which gears of war is the ultimate edition

Leaked in April 2015, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition was confirmed in E3 2015 Microsoft's press conference. It was released worldwide for the Xbox One in North America and Asian-Pacific countries on August 25, 2015, and in Europe on August 28.[108] Ultimate Edition is a near-complete remake of the original game, that features the five chapters of the campaign originally exclusive to the PC version of the game. Players who purchased the Ultimate Edition  received early access to the multiplayer beta of Gears of War 4, which was released on April 18, 2016.[109][110]

Gears of War (video game)

Gears of War is a 2006 military science fiction third-person shooter video game, and the first installment of the Gears of War series. It was developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, initially as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006, before a Microsoft Windows version of the game, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released a year later in 2007. The game's main story, which can be done in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.

The game proved to be a commercial success, selling over three million copies within ten weeks of its launch. It became the fastest selling video game of 2006, the second-most played game over Xbox Live during 2007, and the 6th best selling Xbox 360 game. Considered one of the seventh generation of video gaming's most significant titles, the game received universal critical acclaim for its gameplay and detailed visuals, with it winning over 30 "Game of the Year" awards in 2006. Its success led to the development of the Gears of War franchise, including the sequel Gears of War 2 in 2008, its follow-up in 2011, Gears of War 3,[1] a prequel in 2013, Gears of War: Judgment, and its latest installment in 2016, Gears of War 4. In addition, it has also spawned adaptations for books and comics, with a Gears of War film being currently developed.

A remastered version of the game, entitled Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, was later developed primarily by The Coalition, and brought about a number of improvements to the game, including updates to the gameplay from later titles and enhanced graphics. Ultimate Edition was released for the Xbox One in August 2015, and to PC in March 2016.[2]

Gears of War is a third-person shooter that places emphasis on using cover to avoid taking damage while moving towards enemy forces. The game uses a number of weapon archetypes, but predominately featured is the Lancer, an assault rifle that has a mounted chainsaw bayonet that can deal melee damage at close range. Playable characters can carry two primary weapons, grenades, and a smaller, secondary weapon such as the Snub Pistol. Weapons are reloaded with a tap of the RB button, and a second tap within a given time (active reload) rewards the player with a damage bonus. However, failing to perform the "Active Reload" correctly will cause the gun to become momentarily jammed while the player's character fixes it. When the player takes damage, the "Crimson Omen", a red cog representing the player's health gauge, will fade into the screen, becoming more defined with larger amounts of damage. The player can seek cover to recover their health, but if they take too much damage, they will become incapacitated. Once this occurs, a skull will fill the center void of the omen. The player can then be revived by a teammate, executed by an enemy, or remain incapacitated until they "bleed out", dying from blood loss.

The game features a five-act campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively with one other player. The campaign focuses on COG Army soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and their efforts in the Delta Squad to wipe out the Locust forces on their planet known as Sera. The players will be joined by AI teammates that will help fight the Locust. Certain sections of the campaign feature two paths that can be taken as selected by the first player. If there is a second player, their character will automatically take the other. The campaign can be played at three difficulty settings in the first game. From easiest to hardest, these are "Casual", "Hardcore" and "Insane". The "Insane" difficulty is unlocked once the game is beaten on either the "Casual" or "Hardcore" difficulty.[3]

Multiplayer Gears of War features up to four-on-four competitive gameplay, with teams representing the Gears or the Locust. Players must execute downed foes, otherwise these will revive after a time. In Assassination matches, the team's leader is the only one that can track the other team's leader and pick up new weapons, after which teammates can pick them up, with the goal to eliminate the foe's leader. An Xbox 360 patch added the "Annex" mode, which is similar to King of the Hill, in which players must try to control a shifting control point for a certain amount of time to win.[4] The PC version of Gears introduced "King of the Hill", a mode not present in the Xbox 360 version, which uses a fixed control point but varies the conditions on which it is controlled.[5]

Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera. A liquid called Imulsion became a highly valued power source after a scientist discovered how to use it, and the economic shockwave led to several wars between nations. The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) originally existed only as an obscure world-government philosophy, but it evolved into a legitimate, though minor, political party during the 79-year-long Pendulum Wars. The soldiers of the COG are called "Gears". After "Emergence Day" (E-Day), when the Locust began their attack on humanity, the COG were the ones who took the necessary steps to ensure the survival of human civilization, instituting martial law and taking charge of the effort against the Locust. Fourteen years later, the COG is the only human government left on Sera. One year after E-Day, after losing battle after battle against the Locust, the COG made the greatest sacrifice using the Hammer of Dawn on Human cities giving the citizens of Sera only three days to evacuate to the Jacinto Plateau, the only place Locust couldn't dig through, before pushing the proverbial button on the hammer strike.[6]

The game primarily focuses on Marcus Fenix, the main character, and Delta Squad, consisting of Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Augustus Cole and Damon Baird.[6] Side characters, such as Colonel Hoffman, Anthony Carmine, and Lieutenant Kim, also aid Delta Squad. Players take control of Fenix in the campaign; while in co-op mode, the second player controls Santiago. All four squad members are available for play during multiplayer games, along with Anthony Carmine, Minh Young Kim, and Victor Hoffman, in addition to the various Locust characters.[6]

Marcus Fenix is voiced by John DiMaggio;[7] Dominic Santiago is voiced by Carlos Ferro;[8] and Augustus "Cole Train" Cole is voiced by Lester "The Mighty Rasta" Speight.[9]

The game's plot begins fourteen years after Emergence Day (E-Day), when the Locust Horde overran and killed many COG soldiers and civilians, declaring war against humanity.[6] Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier, is reinstated into the military after spending four years in prison for abandoning his military post in order to make a vain attempt to save his father, Adam Fenix. Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Marcus' best friend and fellow COG, successfully extracts Fenix from the prison, and takes him to meet Delta Squad.[10] The group seeks to obtain the "resonator", a device that will map "The Hollow", the underground caverns which the Locust inhabit[10][11] and later deploy the "Lightmass Bomb", which will destroy the heart of the Locust forces inside the Hollow. Fenix and his allies recover the device, but suffer multiple casualties in the process including Anthony Carmine (who is shot by a sniper) and Squad leader Kim (who is personally executed by the locust General RAAM in an ambush). Fleeing RAAM's forces, Fenix leads the remaining soldiers through the ruins of Ephyra to claim a "Junker" APC, drive to a mining facility, and finally into the planet's depths.[6][10]

Delta Squad successfully detonates the resonator, but the device fails to map enough of the tunnel network. Fortunately, they discover a larger map of the network that originates from Fenix's old home, specifically his father's laboratory.[10] The group ventures to the Fenix estate at East Barricade Academy, where Fenix originally attempted to rescue his father. When they arrive, Delta encounters heavy Locust resistance. After collecting the data, the group fights their way past Locust forces and boards a train carrying the Lightmass Bomb. Fenix and Santiago battle their way through the train, and finally are able to defeat General RAAM, before uploading the data. Fully activated, the Lightmass Bomb launches into the Hollow, and eradicates the Locust tunnel networks.[10] In the game's final sequence, Hoffman delivers a victory speech as the tunnels collapse and explode, whereupon the voice of the Locust Queen promises that the Locust will continue to fight onward, despite their losses, and that their vengeance will be swift. In the original version of the game, the ending showed Scourge and the Bull Reaver as the Hollow blows up. In the Ultimate Edition, it was changed to Myrrah and the Tempest Beetle.

The first concept for the game was conceived around the years 2000 and 2001 as Unreal Warfare, which was much closer to the multiplayer-driven Unreal series than the game that would eventually become Gears of War. The original concept for the game featured character classes and mechs, being played in a closed arena against other players or bots. The game was then put on standby as Epic focused on the Unreal Tournament series, and when the team went back to it, the industry had shifted towards single-player games and the aim of the game was changed.[12]

According to Rod Fergusson, the game was at one point intended to be a horror game influenced by Band of Brothers, Resident Evil 4 and Kill Switch. A romance subplot was considered for the game but was eventually dropped.[13] In an interview with Cliff Bleszinski, lead developer for Epic Games, he cites three games that were the primary influences in the game's design, including the pacing and over-the-shoulder third-person perspective from Resident Evil 4 and the tactical-cover system from Kill Switch; Bleszinski also cited Bionic Commando's influence on the cover system, equating the actions of moving from cover to cover as similar to the action of swinging from platform to platform in the latter game.[14] These design choices reflect themselves in the gameplay, as Gears of War focuses mainly on squad team-based and cover-dependent tactics with limited weapons rather than brute force. Bleszinski also cited the influence of The Legend of Zelda, including its storytelling and world-building elements, acquiring and mastering of tools, and underground environments.[15] The game's title itself is a homage to Metal Gear, an early formative influence on Bleszinski.[16] The total cost of development was $10 million, according to Epic's Mark Rein, and only 20 to 30 people were involved with the development at any time.[17] The game also includes a content filter, which will turn off the blood and gore, and the usage of profanity. However, these figures do not include the proprietary Unreal Engine 3.[17]

Gears of War was first shown as an unnamed exclusive for the Xbox 360 in a behind-closed-doors presentation by Epic Games at the 2005 Game Developers Conference.[18] The demo was presented as a technology showcase for Unreal Engine 3 that would run on the Xenon processor at the center of the new Xbox. It showcased a group of human soldiers patrolling a city at night that fell under ambush. The demo was noted for its overall realism, suspense, and visual clarity, helping to reinforce the argument advanced by Epic Games' founder Tim Sweeney for Microsoft to double the memory in the Xbox 360 from the planned 256 MB to 512 MB. This decision that would ultimately cost Microsoft tens of millions of dollars and restrict the number of Xbox 360 consoles available at launch, but allowed Gears of War and many other Xbox 360 games to run at 720p resolution.[18]

Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski said he hoped for the game to expand into graphic novels and eventually film.[19] On November 21, 2006, Microsoft Corporate VP of Global Marketing and Interactive Entertainment Business Jeff Bell stated Gears of War is the first in a trilogy, through sequences on E-Day and the battle of Jacinto Plateau, as well as information on Adam Fenix and his research.[20] Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein posted a message on the official Gears of War Internet forums, stating "It's not over until it is not fun anymore", and, in his view, Gears of War may become the next Halo series in terms of popularity.[21]

The ending to Gears of War heavily suggested a sequel, and at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Bleszinkski confirmed that Epic Games did "intend to do a sequel" to Gears of War.[22] The game's sequel, Gears of War 2 was officially confirmed on February 20, 2008,[23] and was released at midnight on November 7, 2008.[23] On January 27, 2014 Microsoft announced that they have acquired all rights to the franchise from Epic Games and that Rod Fergusson had rejoined Microsoft Studios to lead development on future Gears of War games.[24]

News of the franchise's future has emerged multiple times since the game's release. PC Gamer accidentally released an image in its 2006 holiday issue where Gears of War can be seen in a Games for Windows display, which led to suspicion that Gears of War would be released for the PC;[25] however, the image was later stated to be a mock-up. Possible leaked pictures were released on February 13, 2007, leading to more suspicion of Gears on the PC. In an interview with Xbox fan site TeamXbox, Mark Rein stated that the game would eventually come to the PC; Epic was not currently ready to release it on that format, but the upcoming release of Unreal Tournament 3 was "helping (Epic) get optimization on the PC".[26]

On July 11, 2007 at the E3 conference, it was revealed that Gears of War would indeed be released for Windows.[27][28] New features include three new multi-player maps,[5] an extension of five new single-player chapters to act five which describes events of Delta Squad escaping a giant Brumak between acts four and five[5] (which Mark Rein claims is "about 20 percent extra" over the existing Xbox 360 content),[29] new game modes, a game editor, and Games for Windows – Live support integrated into Unreal Engine 3. When asked about bringing the additional content to the Xbox 360 version, Mark Rein of Epic Games stated that "it is unlikely we will bring that content to 360". He then states, "Unfortunately the version it's built on is not really compatible with the 360 and so it would involve a massive patch, a patch larger than all five we've done so far, to Gears of War to do that."[30] Additionally, the PC and Xbox 360 versions will not allow for cross-platform play; Cliff Bleszinski stated that "while this feature does add value, it just wasn't that desired nor worth the extra months of design and development time. We want Gears of War to be out this holiday on PC."[5] This news angered many owners of Gears of War on the Xbox 360 due to the game no longer living up to its "Exclusively for the Xbox 360" title and not receiving the additional content.[31] Mark Rein noted that despite their original label of the game as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Microsoft allowed them to develop the game as part of the Games for Windows moniker, as has been done previously with Halo 2.[32]

A patch was released on November 28 to fix performance issues and also the Games for Windows â€“ Live update issue.[33] The patch was only released for American and Western European versions of the game; legitimate purchasers of the Eastern European and Russian versions were informed that "the game would continue to function without the patch" and never issued a corresponding version.[34]

A Mac OS X version was confirmed by Mark Rein at the end of E3, on the Game Head television program on July 14, 2007, along with Unreal Tournament 3, but no release time frame was specified. As of August 2014, nothing more has been mentioned.

In early 2009, an issue with a digital certificate, used to sign certain game-critical files as part of the anti-cheat mechanism, which expired on January 28, 2009, rendered the game unplayable without a temporary workaround of resetting the system clock to before the certificate expired. Initial information from sources led people to believe the issue was related to DRM within the game.[35] Epic later acknowledged the problem, claiming it was not in relation to a form of DRM but instead to a form of Anti-Cheat, and notified end users that they "[were] working with Microsoft to get it resolved."[36][37] This issue was corrected as of February 6, 2009 with a downloadable patch.[38]

The music was composed by Kevin Riepl who has previously worked with Epic Games on the soundtracks for Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict.[39] Riepl began receiving early builds and cinematics about halfway through the development process, closely collaborating with the development team on the influence the music should have on the player and the story. The theme of 'Destroyed Beauty' that had inspired the game's visuals guided the music too, creating mood suited to a beautiful city in ruins and the emotional desperation of its inhabitants.[39]

The score includes many mechanical percussive elements, altered samples of explosions, hits and impacts, and electric guitar stingers that punctuate the game's combat encounters. To complete the score these elements were combined with the organic sounds of a live orchestra. The orchestral score was orchestrated and conducted by Corey Status and performed by the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra.[39] The title track was written and performed by thrash metal band Megadeth, with an instrumental version of the song being used for the soundtrack; a revised version with lyrics was featured on the band's 2007 album United Abominations. Megadeth performed the track live as headliners of Gigantour, a twenty-five stop metal tour sponsored by Microsoft as part of the promotion for the game.[40]

A soundtrack was released on July 31, 2007 by Sumthing Else Music Works.[41]

Microsoft produced a thirty-minute documentary, titled Gears of War: The Race to E3, that aired on MTV2 on May 19, 2006 to promote the game.[42] The program was produced in a reality TV style and featured Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games president Mike Capps, and producer Rod Fergusson in the weeks leading up to the Gears of War gameplay reveal at the Xbox Media Briefing at E3 2006.
The program captures several stressful moments including Xbox executive Peter Moore's desire to remove the chainsaw rifle from the E3 demo days before the show. The chainsaw remained and after the demo was given Bill Gates confided to Cliff "I love that chainsaw."[43]

The Gears of War television ad reveals Marcus Fenix alone in the ruined streets of Sera as he moves to avoid threats that appear throughout a dark and deserted city. The spot was widely praised and has been described as one of the most iconic game trailers of the last decade.[44] The spot, set to the Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" and directed by Joseph Kosinski, is melancholy and reflective in tone and was a significant departure for videogame advertising at the time, especially a fast-paced shooter game.[45] Visual effects company Digital Domain created the visuals inside the Unreal Engine 3 game engine, the same engine that powered Gears of War on the Xbox 360. While the spot was pre-rendered, the production method gave consumers an accurate preview of the game's textures and subtle facial expressions.

The popularity of the commercial built a bigger audience for "Mad World" which would reach the #1 spot on iTunes five years after it was initially recorded.[46] The melody remains heavily associated with the Gears of War franchise and was later adopted into the soundtrack of Gears of War 3.

At the game's release, Epic Games released a Limited Collectors Edition. Some of the notable differences are a steel case instead of the regular plastic case and an extra disc which contains artworks of environments and stages including Locust that never made it to the game, and extra content and behind footage of the making of Gears of War. The disc also contains a time-lapse on the creation of the "Emergence" mural. The game's disc and case has a different cover and instead features the Omen background. Another of the Collector's Edition extras is a book titled Destroyed Beauty which illustrates the game's back-story and includes concepts, sketches, and descriptions of the game's characters. The Collector's Edition also includes the same instruction manual and 48-hour Xbox Live Gold trial as the regular game does.[47]

Epic Games began working on new content for Gears of War in August 2006. The updates would remain free according to Epic Games president Mike Capps.[48] The first of these updates was released over Xbox Live on January 9, 2007,[49] with two new maps released the following day on January 10, 2007. The two maps reflected background scenes from the game's storyline, known as Raven Down and Old Bones, which depict Gears fighting Locust amidst the crash site of a King Raven chopper and a museum.[50] Another update was released for Gears of War on January 22, 2007,[51] which, according to Epic Games' Marc Rein, is said to fix some compatibility issues with the release of Gears of War in Japan, and that no game play or functionality features were changed.[52]

On April 9, 2007, Epic Games released their third update, containing a new game mode titled Annex, which requires teams to capture and hold certain areas of each map, as well as additional gameplay tweaks and fixing up some glitches, bugs and exploits. The update was free of charge.[53]

Epic Games initially said that four new maps would be released in conjunction with the third patch. However, due to disagreements between Microsoft and Epic Games, Epic decided instead to "put these maps on sale at a reasonable price then make them free a few months later," according to Mark Rein of Epic Games.[54] The map pack, titled "Hidden Fronts", was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on May 3, 2007, and included the maps Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway.[55] Free downloads of these maps were made available on September 3, 2007, four months after their initial release.[56]

A fourth update on June 14, 2007 added 250 additional Achievement points (bringing the total possible achievement points to 1250), in eight Achievements related to Annex mode and the maps from Hidden Fronts. Additionally, the update includes improvement of roadie run to keep the player from sticking to cover areas, and a patch to prevent the Annex clock from counting during connection errors. Other "housekeeping" issues were also addressed.[57]

Upon its release, Gears of War received universal acclaim from critics, maintaining an average review score of 93.97% at GameRankings and 94/100 at Metacritic. It was the second highest rated game of 2006 on both sites.[79][80] Most reviewers praised the game for its concept visuals, presentation and sound. IGN's review of the game called it "the most gorgeous looking game on the Xbox 360" and that "the sound design is worthy of awards."[76]

While the game received high praise, reviewers did point out that Gears of War did not offer anything significantly new in its core gameplay. Eurogamer's review of the game states: "let's not pretend that we're wallowing in the future of entertainment. What we have here is an extremely competent action game that's as polished and refined as it could be, and is therefore very enjoyable. But if Epic had applied the same widescreen scope and ambition to the gameplay as it did to the engine we'd be much more excited than we are."[65] The game's story was noted for not being very deep, as GameSpot's review states "The lack of exposition feels like a missed opportunity to make the characters and the setting even more compelling."[69]

The PC release of the game received similar praise as the 360 version, with reviewers noting various differences between the two versions. IGN commented that "The mouse and keyboard allow for more precise control, and the graphics have been improved as well;"[77] however, 1UP stated that "the control scheme's a very central obstacle" to the game.[63] GameSpot noted that the additional chapter felt out of place as "it changes things up a bit in ways that betray the difficulty progression of the game."[70] Hyper's Cam Shea commends the game for its "visual, solid gameplay, killer multiplayer and reload mechanics". However, he criticised it for "potential frustration, pointless squad commands and chainsaw mechanics".[81]

The Lancer weapon was later featured in an Electronic Gaming Monthly article that discusses its practicality and historical precedents. Keirsey criticized this weapon by noting that in real life, "chainsaws are heavy." He noted that the closest historical precedents are "medieval bludgeoning weapons".[82]

Leading up to the game's release, Gears of War was one of the most anticipated games of 2006.[83] The game premiered during the 2005 E3 show, and won, among others,[84] several "Best 360 Game" awards, including from IGN,[85] 1UP,[86] and GameSpy.[87] The game continued to win several awards at following 2006 E3 show prior to the game's release.[88] These included the Game Critics Awards for "Best Console Game" and "Best Action Game",[89] IGN's "Best 360 Action Game", "Best 360 Multiplayer Game", and "Best Overall Multiplayer Experience",[90] and GameSpy's "Best Console Multiplayer", "Best Action Game", and "Xbox 360 Game of Show".[91]

Upon release, Gears of War received numerous awards from many publications. IGN named Gears of War as the "Xbox 360 Game of the Year" among other awards.[92] GameSpot named the game its "Game of the Year" as well as "Best Xbox 360 Game", among other accolades.[93] Official Xbox Magazine named Gears of War as their "Xbox 360 Game of the Year".[94] G4 TV during the 2007 G-Phoria awards, named Gears of War its "Game of the Year" in addition to other awards.[95]

Gears of War won several awards at the 2007 Interactive Achievement Awards at the D.I.C.E. Summit, including "Overall Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", and "Action/Adventure Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievements" in Animation, Art Direction, Visual Engineering, and Online Gameplay.[96] The game received the awards of "Ultimate Game of the Year" and "Xbox Game of the Year" at the 2007 Golden Joystick Awards.[97]

In addition, the characters within the game received additional awards. GameSpot gave their 2006 "Best New Character(s)" award to the Delta Squad of Gears of War.[93] G4 TV named Marcus Fenix the "Best New Character" and gave Lester Speight's performance for "Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole" the award for "Best Voiceover". The game was given the Interactive Achievement Award for "Outstanding Character Performance â€“ Male" for its voicework.[96] The Berserkers were named as Official Xbox Magazine's "Enemy of the Year".[98]

Guinness World Records awarded Gears of War with 5 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include, "First Console Game to Use the Unreal 3 Engine", "Fastest Selling Original Xbox 360 Game", and "First Music Single to Top the Chart After Promoting a Video Game" for the Gary Jules version of "Mad World", which was originally released in 2003, but topped the download charts in November 2006 after it was used as background music during the TV commercial for Gears of War.[99]

Gears of War was an immediate hit upon its release. On November 7, 2006—the day that it was released—it became the most popular game on the Xbox Live service, until the release of Halo 3, overtaking Halo 2 which had held the spot since its launch in November 2004.[100] Gears was the second most-played game on the Xbox Live service throughout 2007.[101] Gears of War sold one million copies in its first two weeks on sale making it the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game to date.[102] By January 19, 2007, just ten weeks after its debut, over three million units of the game had been sold.[103] It received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[104] indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[105] As of November 7, 2008, the game has sold 5.88 million copies worldwide.[106] Gears of War was also the first Xbox or Xbox 360 game to sell out and reach the top ten charts in Japan.[107]

The re-mastered game was subsequently released for Microsoft Windows on March 1, 2016.[2]

Gears of War Ultimate Edition was developed under the direction of series Rod Fergusson but is the first to be created at The Coalition, the Microsoft Studios studio charged with the continuation and development of the franchise following its acquisition by Microsoft from Epic Games in early 2014.[111]

The remake took a total of 18 months, including pre-production, and included the remastering of over 3,000 art assets, original motion capture, and refinement of the control scheme. Only selected elements from the original were retained including the original score and voice performances.[111] The remake's ending was also changed to show Myrrah, the Locust Queen.[112]

The initial release of Gears of War Ultimate Edition suffered from significant display problems and stuttering on contemporary top-end hardware, leading to significant criticism of the developer and Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform.[113][114] The problems partially related to the developer's transition of the game to DirectX 12 and the implementation of ambient occlusion.[115] Driver updates and a patch from the studio significantly helped to address the issues.[116][117]

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition received generally positive reviews from critics. The improved graphics, sound & minimum changes from the original game were heavily praised, but was criticized for its AI problems & the dated campaign level design. Aggregrate review website Metacritic assigned a score of 82/100 based on 74 reviews.[118] GameSpot also gave the game a score of 7.0 out of 10 due to the fact that there wasn't major changes to the game other than graphics. IGN also gave the game a score 8.5 out of 10. Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb, who reviewed the original game when he was at GameSpot, gave the title a negative review. He criticized the game's AI and the campaign mode, noting that it "aged pretty poorly".[119][120]

In March 2007, New Line Cinema bought the rights to make a film adaptation, with Stuart Beattie writing the script along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. In June 2008, Len Wiseman was confirmed to direct before dropping out in 2010. Since then, New Line have been looking for a new director and have allegedly lowered the budget.[121]