Former First Nations leader David Ahenakew insists he's not an anti-Semite, telling his hate-crime trial Thursday he doesn't "hate the Jews, but I hate what they do" - and that he still believes Jews started the Second World War.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled a deficit-free fiscal forecast Thursday that contained a political time bomb that could put his government in peril as early as Monday night.

Two men are dead after a shooting late Thursday afternoon in an Ottawa highrise apartment building.

World-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking has been appointed a distinguished research chair at Waterloo, Ont.'s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

When NASA returns to the moon, Canadian-built eyes could show its lunar rovers where to drive.

To anyone else, the photo album found in the truck of Mark Steinberg's car wouldn't be worth much, but the Vancouver lawyer says the album was his only physical link to a fading past.

CTVglobemedia Inc. on Thursday joined the parade of media companies across North America that have chopped staff amid an industry downturn.

Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat sacked his national police chief on Friday, fuelling speculation that the government is preparing to crackdown on protesters besieging Bangkok's main airports.

Russia is satisfied with Washington's refusal to push for allowing Georgia and Ukraine to be official candidates to join the NATO military alliance, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

The world's oldest person, an Indiana woman, died on Wednesday at the age of 115, according to a gerontology expert.

Ontario Provincial Police have charged former township leader Fred Preston with first-degree murder in death of a constable who was killed in a shootout on a rural road in southwestern Ontario.

Almost a dozen people have been arrested after raids that Ontario Provincial Police say broke up a gun-smuggling and drug-trafficking ring operating in the province.

Health officials in Ontario are investigating two cases of listeriosis that appear to be linked to salami recalled from stores in Ontario and Quebec about three months ago.

Residential property tax increases in Toronto may be shaved from four to 2.9%, according to Mayor David Miller.

A co-ordinated investigation into child pornography in Ontario resulted in charges against 35 people across the province, police say.

Toronto elementary school teacher Michael Bednarski says he feels pretty good these days for a dead man.

The Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., has locked out its maintenance employees in an ongoing labour dispute.

Toronto Maple Leafs' newcomer Luca Caputi is one of six rookies on the roster keen to prove his worth over the final 16 games.

Canadian actor Corey Haim, an actor who had struggled with drug addiction, died at age 38 early Wednesday in Los Angeles. Police say the exact cause is unknown.

Ontario's New Democrats say some land developers who paid $5,000 each to attend a dinner with Premier Dalton McGuinty will make huge profits as a result of legislative changes made by the government.

New research by a U.S. water expert says homeowners who don't replace the lead pipes leading into their homes are taking a risk.

Thousands of people filled Mississauga, Ont.'s Hershey Centre Tuesday afternoon to pay tribute to Peel Regional Police Const. Artem [James] Ochakovsky.

A rare, 1868 Canadian Red Ensign flag will hit the auction block this summer.

Drunk driving and drug possession charges are dropped against former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer as he pleads guilty to the lesser offence of careless driving.

About one-third of Canada's population - up to 14.4 million people - will be a visible minority by 2031, Statistics Canada projects.

Attention fans of live music and mind-blowing, character-limited insights! Starting tonight, and every night until Sunday, Torontoist's small-but-sturdy crew of festival-goers (Ashley Carter as AC, Alex Nino Gheciu as ANG, and Nicole Villeneuve as NV) will be on live-Twitter patrol on @TOistlive as part of our ongoing Canadian Music Week coverage. Follow us, RT us, @ us or DM us. Just don't say hello to us in person.

Every other week, Hog-O-Vision takes an illustrated look into Toronto's future.

If you’re really into stuff like “modes,” “forms,” “gestures,” “ephemera,” or the relationship between cinematic time and the empty vastness of gallery space more generally (or just like a good noddle-scratch), than put down that dog-eared copy of Artforum, practice your considered nodding, and get ready for the twenty-third edition of the Images Festival. North America’s premier congress of experimental film and video, choreography, installation art, and other immoderately arty pleasures, Images Festival 2010 spans 10 days and 25 venues, and boasts an impressive 145 artists (most of whom you’ve likely never heard of...unless you make a point of going to the Images Festival every year). Kidding aside, this year’s festival is bursting with plenty of interesting exhibitions, much of it misfit art so idiosyncratic it could only find a home at Images.

Yesterday evening at the Gladstone, festival directors unveiled the complete itinerary for Images 2010. After the many, many, many, shout-outs to this year’s sponsors, funders, founders, and board members, Images Artistic Director Pablo de Ocampo and Programmer Jacob Korczynski (who, given the festival’s remarkably esoteric parameters, have either the easiest or hardest job in the Toronto arts scene) ran through the festival’s highlights. “We’re constantly tooting our own horns about how things keep getting better and better at Images,” said de Ocampo, "and this year is no exception.” Images 2010 is broken up into three main programs: On Screen (screenings of feature-length films, shorts, and experimental video), Off Screen (nearly three dozen installations spread across fifteen local galleries), and Live Images (a smorgasbord of performance art, dance, music, and other real-time displays).

Amongst the highlights of On Screen is the latest feature by Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari. Set against the war-ravaged backdrop of Jaffa, Port of Memory follows a Palestinian family (here Aljafari directs his own aunts and uncles), searching for a place in a city defined by its sense of placelessness. It promises to be an interesting film, not least of all in its Aljafari’s Dogme-style directing of non-actors. It’s also a provocative rejoinder to the kerfuffle kicked up over TIFF 2009’s controversial decision to focus their first annual City-to-City program on Tel Aviv. Premiering at the opening-night gala, Port of Memory is preceded by a short by Canadian filmmaker and York University Professor John Greyson (who, incidentally, spearheaded last fall’s anti-TIFF Toronto Declaration). Also featured are Hamiltonian Luo Li’s debut I Went to the Zoo the Other Day (shot on location at the Metro Toronto Zoo), and the Canadian Artist Spotlight on landmark Toronto filmmaker Ross McLaren, best known for his searing 1977 Toronto punk doc Crash 'n' Burn.

Outside of the more conventional domains of film and video (though you can rest assured the films and videos are anything but conventional), the Off Screen program boasts installations by Montreal artist Daniel Barrow at the Art Gallery of York University, and the North American premiere of American installation artist Sharon Lockhart’s exhibition Podwórka, presented at The Power Plant. The most haphazard program of the three, Live Images features a dance/video hybrid from NYC-based duo robbinschilds and a Cageian bit of artistic austerity in No Images, live audio performances presented to an audience shrouded in darkness (which, de Ocampo warned, “is not for the claustrophobic or people afraid of the dark”).

Of course, these are just the keynote events at the sprawling Images 2010, which will also play host to the 2010 International Experimental Media Congress April 7–11 at OCAD. If fourteen-hour installations, experimental films, emotive dance numbers, or sitting in the dark listening to aural performance is your bag, Images 2010 will be right up your alley. Just remember to pack a triple Americano in your thermos to keep you alert through all the action and that, when in doubt about how exactly to speak about a given piece, “Interesting, but terribly overrated” is almost always a safe bet.

The twenty-third Images Festival runs April 1–10, 2010 in venues around Toronto. Their website went live last night. Check it out for complete listings of events, screenings, and participating galleries, or to purchase tickets.

All images courtesy Rebecca Webster.

Each day during Canadian Music Week, Torontoist is tracking down one of the festival's performers and hounding them about their show(s) and the city on your behalf.

Who: Dan Mangan
From: Vancouver, BC

Mangan is the latest in a line of brainy singer/songwriters to charm a legion of Canadian (soon, world) indie-folk fans. The twenty-six-year-old had a breakthrough year with Nice, Nice, Very Nice, a collection of songs that ranks on the Chad VanGaalen scale of quirk and craft and whose wordy, observational narratives and hearty, well-worn rasp keep the pop sheen at a minimum.

Torontoist: Why should we see you at CMW?

Dan Mangan: Because there's hardly any shows happening around the city. If you leave home, you'll probably end up at my gig.

What's your favourite Toronto venue, and why?

I dig the Dakota Tavern, but it's not exactly a "listening room." I think some of my best concert experiences in Toronto happened at the Cameron House before they got all screwed up with capacity laws.

What's your favourite Toronto band, and why?

Right now I'm really into the Timber Timbre record...which is great, because I'll get to check 'em out while I'm there. We're playing together at the Great Hall on Thursday!

What are you excited about seeing and adamant about avoiding at CMW?

I've learned the hard way, and too many times, that late-night hot dogs might be worth avoiding. I'm excited to see a little bit of snow—here in Vancouver we had a pretty mild winter and I'm feeling a little like we missed out. I'm also hoping to check out Zeus, Jason Collett, and Bahamas at Lee's on Wednesday.

What are the best and worst things about big, citywide music festivals?

Best: they help foster a musical community where people care about each other and make great music.

Worst: they make you feel completely unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

What's happening for you after CMW?

I'm taking a cast of musicians down to Austin for the SXSW festival. Very excited—I've played there a few times before but this is my first time with a band. I'll be back through Toronto on April 22nd at The Horseshoe!

Dan Mangan plays Thursday, March 11 at the Great Hall; Friday, March 12 at the Courthouse; and does an in-store at Criminal Records on Saturday, March 13. Details can be found on the CMW website or Mangan's MySpace.