Sept 15, 2011

How did the lifeboat of the North Atlantic, as it's called, manage to cope with thousands of unexpected air passengers? Jo Fidgen is in Gander, Newfoundland, with a story of 9.11 kindness. In Sudan, there are fears of a new offensive by government troops once the rains have stopped -- Julie Flint's in the Nuba mountains in the south. Nick Thorpe's at a monastery overlooking the River Danube in Romania. There they've been celebrating a holy day when people come to have their ailments washed away by holy water. Thomas Dinham tells of a febrile atmosphere in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in the days after a mob laid seige to the Israeli embassy there. And in the week when the president of the European Commission spoke of a fight for our political and economic future, Paul Henley argues that increasingly Europe is becoming a continent of extremes.