London mayor-elect Boris Johnson and Mayor Bloomberg have gift time Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with London's mayor-elect Boris Johnson yesterday, and the pair shared pleasantries and some gifts, one of which was maybe not so pleasant. Mayor Bloomberg gave Boris Johnson the standard Tiffany crystal apple (we suspect it's this $100 paperweight). In turn, Johnson, the Tory who beat Mayor Ken Livingstone by a sizable margin last month, gave the billionaire mayor a button-down......

Mayor Bloomberg returned from London convinced more than ever that NYC needs to emulate the British capital's "Ring of Steel" surveillance system, which places cameras throughout the city to observe and help identify people in real time. He said that the danger of terrorism necessitated a similar system in New York, where plans are underfoot to install thousands of cameras and license plate readers in downtown Manhattan. "In London, they have two or three cameras......

A look at some noteworthy television programs this week: Nature: Dogs That Changed The World: The Rise of the Dog (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. WNET 13; Wednesday, 9:00 p.m., WLIW 21) The first of a two part look at man's best friend, the dog. Part one looks at the origins of domesticated dogs and inquires about the theory that links domestication to human's trash. A behind the scenes podcast looking into the challenges of filming dogs......

Virgin Vacations created a list of the 11 Top Underground Transit Systems in the World, complete with photographs and YouTube videos to give readers a sense of what mass transit might be like on their trip. The number 1 underground transit system is the oldest - the London Underground. After that, it's the Paris Metro. Then the Moscow Metro. Then Madrid, Tokyo, and Seoul, until you finally see New York City's subway coming in......

About 10% of the MTA's bus fleet will have surveillance cameras installed as the MTA tries to upgrade security measures on its various vehicles. According to the Daily News, system, called TransitCam, will start out by just recording images for later use (for investigators to refer back to after a crime), but it can be upgraded for live video transmissions. Also, the Transit Authority hopes to use video footage to disprove accident claims. And we're......

Terror tips can count: The NYPD and FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force let London authorities know about Mohammed Sidique Khan, one of the men who bombed a London Underground station last summer, before the bombings. British authorities may have not kept on Khan's trail because he didn't seem to be part of a radical group, and Senator Charles Schumer is alikening this missed opportunity to our country ignoring that memo that said bin Laden wanted......

On the top of our list of things we like to know but then wish we didn't know: The London Underground as announced that they rejected the subway surveillance system that the MTA will be putting into our subways. Hmm, that makes our new hi-tech deal seem, well, not that special. The NY Post says that the London Underground felt that things like the "intelligent video cameras" which are supposed to notice unattended bags don't......

After the NY Times reminded everyone that the MTA had only spent $30 million out of $600 million that it committed to upgrading subway security over the past few years (this was something that City Councilman John Liu had been outraged about back in March), New Yorkers wondered if the MTA was really concerned with subway security. Gothamist is totally pissed off about the MTA's feet dragging, but we can only assume that the $600......

During the morning rush hour, a series of explosions have blasted in downtown London, killing at least two people and casualties (which include both the wounded and dead) were hovering near a hundred. The front of a double decker bus was sheared off in one explosion, while a number of explosions (anywhere from three to seven) hit between six Underground stations (Edgware Road, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, Russell Square, Aldgate East, Moorgate). People may still......

The expectation is that the MTA will approve that RFPs for the Second Avenue Subway can be issued tomorrow. In other words, the call to construction for the first phase of the project will go out, making the new T line a very real possibility. NY1 has the about the project: MTA board member Barry Feinstein said, “We were building the Second Avenue subway before. It didn't get built because they ran out of money,......