The festival with films about New York begins today, June 27th and lasts through August 1st. Thirteen will air a new film each Friday night at 12:30am.

The New York City Department of Health announced an initiative to administer HIV tests to the estimated 250,000 untested 18- to 64-year-olds in The Bronx over the next three years.

Since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the founding of Israel created Palestinian refugees, there have been refugee camps Lebanon housing them–for 60 years, many generations. There are now 12 refugee camps housing 300,000. What is the future of these camps? Watch video….

In 1942, the Japanese army needed a new supply route to support its troops in Burma. Under backbreaking conditions, Allied P.O.W.s, along with 1000s of Asian laborers, were ordered to complete a railway linking Thailand and Burma that would include the infamous “bridge on the River Kwai.”

This week’s Reel 13 short films featured a young boy in peril, a soldier’s broken marriage, and a quest to visit historic NYC towers. You voted, now find out which film won.

This film opens in select theaters over the July 4th weekend. Charlie Rose sat down with director Alex Gibney and two of Thompson’s closest colleagues: magazine editors Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone) and Graydon Carter (Vanity Fair) to talk about the film and Thompson’s life story.

In April, two lions died in the Mara Reserve on the border of Kenya and Tanzania shortly after eating contaminated hippo meat. Eventually, tests confirmed that the hippo meat contained Carbofuran, a pesticide that has been widely banned. Read more on this story and the larger issue at hand here.

Titus, the Gorilla King from this Nature episode has united with his son Kuryama’s troop of gorillas, putting Titus second in command. Titus led his troop for 15 years. Read more on Nature’s new blog.

This lecture/panel discussion casts the New Deal in contemporary terms. Two writers talk about their strikingly different interpretations of the New Deal … and its meaning for both Election 2008 and the country’s future.

A new movement of architects are looking to solve humanitarian problems with their designs. At the forefront is Architecture for Humanity (whose motto is above), and Frontline/World visits some of their projects in India. Watch video…