From Our Own Correspondent

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.