Two questions about Python..

[Ken]

I'm looking into using Python for a project, and was wondering how does
Python rank up against other scripting languages for speed?

I assume its not as fast as something like C, which isn't an option as I
need a
scripting language.

Second question is, does Python have a robust exception handling system?

Ie.. if a program loads a module and that module has a logic error in
it,
can the program recover? Or will it crash?