After spending yesterday in DC, British Prime Minister David Cameron is in NYC today, visiting the UN, meeting with the CEO of Nasdaq and, as you can see here, scarfing down a dirty water dog with Mayor Bloomberg. But no matter how many photo ops Cameron poses for, all anyone wants to talk about is BP, and the company's role in the release of convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Adbel al-Megrahi. Last night Cameron met for 45 minutes with senators from the tri-state area who are calling for an investigation, and they emerged from the meeting slightly placated. more ›

David Cameron, the 43-year-old Conservative, became the new prime minister of Britain after Gordon Brown announced his resignation earlier today. The Conservative party won 306 seats, but 325 were needed to win— Brown's Labour party won 258—so the Conservative have been in talks with the Lib Dem party for its 57 seats. Cameron told the public today that he would "help build a more responsible society here in Britain... Those who can should and those who can't, we will always help. I want to make sure that my government always looks after the elderly, the frail, the poorest in our country." Mayor Bloomberg's office Tweeted congratulations and "NYers wish you the best!" more ›

In a televised address Monday night, Polish President Lech Kaczynski showed a clip depicting a gay couple (pictured) from Queens getting married in Toronto five years ago. Kaczynski’s anti-gay speech was meant to warn Polish conservatives about what lies ahead if Poland ratifies the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. Here's TV news coverage of the gay marriage storm gathering at Poland's borders. more ›

When Harold Pinter’s masterpiece The Homecoming first premiered on Broadway some four decades ago, the dramatized hostility was met with equal hostility from the bourgeois audience, as witnessed by the playwright himself:

One of the greatest theatrical nights of my life was the opening of The Homecoming in New York. There was the audience. It was 1967. I'm not sure they've changed very much, but it really was your mink coats and suits. Money. And when the lights went up on The Homecoming, they hated it immediately. 'Jesus Christ, what the hell are we looking at here?' I was there, and the hostility towards the play was palpable. You could see it. more ›

• SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others.
• Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list.
• Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island.

A look at some noteworthy television this week: 2007 American Music Awards (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WABC 7) Most awards shows are basically useless and awards shows where people vote on line are even more so. This year this awards show invented by Dick Clark in 1973 gets even more useless. Jimmy Kimmel hosts. Nature: The Beauty of Ugly (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13; Wednesday, 8:00 p.m., WLIW 21) A look at some of the strangest... more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: more ›

Representatives Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler announced that they are introducing legislation to block a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The Sun reports the pair stood in front of the Saudi Consulate, questioning the logic of the Bush administration's plan. Nadler said, "The folly of this arms deal is beyond belief. Saudi Arabia is the no. 1 exporter of terrorism in the world today." more ›

A lot is being made of Mayor Bloomberg leaving the Republican Party - Could it be a prelude for a run for the White House? Officially, Bloomberg is saying that he won't be running for President and that he is serving out his term as mayor. Our reader poll yesterday was pretty divided, one question that needs to be asked is how Bloomberg would measure up in height if he ran for, and became President. more ›

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... more ›

Generally speaking, Gothamist isn’t moved by most of Greenpoint’s many Polish restaurants. Perhaps owing to some early scarring experiences at a fading Borsht Belt resort, we’re seldom inspired to board the G Train and make the long haul north for a plate of boiled cabbage. more ›

It's that time of year again, when the New York Film Society at Lincoln Center and a small group of local film critics selects the entries from new world cinema they feel deserves their erudite stamp o' approval. As this year's pre-screening Festival ID tag points out, their 44 years of discernment includes a pretty elite bunch of films and filmmakers, and this year is no different. The NYFF doesn't set out to be mainstream fare, like the younger Tribeca fest, and they pride themselves on this. more ›

What is a Presidential trip to New York without protest? During President Bush's United Nations General Assembly address (in which he tried to emphasize that the U.S. wanted a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear program), protesters rallied outside to speak out against the war in Iraq. After initially being prohibited from marching by the NYPD - which then allowed the march to take place if only on the sidewalk and on a different route - 3,000 people joined in. am New York reported that one marcher was disappointed in the turnout: Paul Rosa said, "I understand people have to work, but there are four or five million people in this city who are against the war. For protests to be effective, they have to be massive and sustained." Which makes us wonder how many people would have liked to marched but couldn't because of work. The police reported 15 arrests. more ›

Tomorrow is Bloomsday, the day chronicled in James Joyce's Ulysses. And for the 25th year, Symphony Space has a full Bloomsday on Broadway celebration, focusing on "on Mr. Leopold Bloom's spiritual son, Stephen Dedelus (aka James Joyce), with readings from Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist and Dubliners." The events start at noon tomorrow, and the final performance is the inimitable Fionnula Flanagan reading Molly Bloom's monologue (aka, "The Fully Molly") at 10PM till whenever she finishes. more ›

This is so unfair! Londonist tells us that there's a whale in the Thames! Is the Thames that much cleaner than the East River or Hudson? Hmm, nevermind. We have seen harbor seals in the city (in the Gowanus Canal, stranded in another part of Brooklyn, or just hanging around downtown), but never before murky images of a whale. We imagine a shoe or body would clog up the whale's blowhole or that the toxicity of the East River would immediately reject a whale...the Hudson, we're not so sure, but down here, it is an estuary. We could imagine one closer to the Statue of Liberty, though. more ›

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 be trapped underground near the King's Cross station (here's an evacuation picture), which sounds awful as the London Underground tunnels are incredibly narrow and very deep underground. Prime Minister Tony Blair feels it's "reasonable" to suspect the explosions are terror-related, and he will be leaving the G8 conference in Scotland to check on the scene; the conference, however, will go on. Here's more from BBC News, and Londonist's breaking news updates show that the Underground explosions were related to "power surges" at first. more ›

Priscilla Grim, Membership & Advocacy Director AIVF more ›

Born in New York, De Niro started his own film festival - the Tribeca Film Festival - in 2002 to help the economy of Lower Manhattan. Gothamist took a look at his list of movies, and he certainly does do quite a bit of films where he is "playing gangsters of Italian descent." more ›

The Daily News thinks it could be "Knicks vs. the Nicknames" because of all the nicknames the Nets have: J-Kidd (Jason Kidd), R.J. (Richard Jefferson), K-Mart (Kenyon Martin), Debo (Rodney Rogers), Veal (Brian Scalabrine), Slim (?), A-Train (Aaron Williams). That got Gothamist thinking (we do that once in a while), "What would be some good "Knicknames" for the Knicks?" Prime Minister (Cezary Trybanski), Mr. Softee (Allan Houston), Cap Liability (Vin Baker), Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo (Dikembe Mutombo), Mama Can't Spell (Anfernee Hardaway). more ›

Gothamist never thought we would see the F-Rays atop the Yankees in the AL East, but when you're playing games halfway around the world, it seems like anything can happen. The Yankees are now 1 game out of the lead and a half game behind the Red Sox. Lucky for them, they have 161 more games to play. more ›

The capture of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was met with elation. Iraqis rejoiced, as President Bush and Prime Minister Blair breathed a sigh of relief. American forces found Hussein just outside of his hometown of Tikrit, hiding in a "spider hole," 6 feet underneath the safehouse hut (safehut?) with two AK 47s, a pistol, and $750,000. In the cowboy vigilante style, U.S. Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," to cheers from Iraqi journalists at a press conference. more ›

Gothamist doesn't care if the Reuters caption is President Bush "pretends to pour a pint of beer" at the Dun Cow pub in Britain. We just think it's irresponsible of Prime Minister Blair to take an admitted alkie to a pub full of sweet, sweet Guinness. PM Blair, didn't Laura brief you properly? We're sure she left the emergency numbers with you and left the pantry stocked with your favorite snack foods. And in the picture below, President Bush clearly looks pissed. more ›

Tom Cruise met with dashing (in looks...Gothamist claims no knowledge about Japanese politics, barely able to keep our own country's goings on in check) Prime Minister Koizumi while promoting his upcoming Oscar-contending film, The Last Samurai. They apparently karaoked to an Elvis tune. And for some reason, reporters made Cruise say, "I think he's a charismatic and very intelligent man," while really, what else is a visiting super star going to say about his gracious host? more ›

Whitney, dear Whitney! As if the interview with Diane Sawyer weren't enough, Whitney is visiting Israel to meet her brothers and sisters in Israel, the "Black Hebrews" (or their full, official name, "The Original African Hebrew Nation of Jerusalem"). Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon is going to meet with the Diva herself later this week. There goes any chance of calm in that country! more ›

Prime Minister Blair visits with President Bush at Camp David to discuss the war. more ›

According to Reuters, moderate, pro-Western, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was just taken out by a sniper in Belgrade. He was trying to clean up organized crime and dealing with the fallout from the collapse of Slobodan Milosevic's vicious government at the hands of NATO. This leaves nationalist former Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who's no friend of ours, as the most prominent politician in the country. more ›