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The Senate concludes its last session of the 107th Congress, passing a raft of legislation including a bill creating a new Homeland Security Department. But lawmakers leave town without passing bills on spending issues, bankruptcy reform or energy policy. NPR's David Welna reports.

As the economy remains sluggish, some cities express regret at having offered financial incentives to attract new industry. Some companies are shutting down factories that cities and states paid to attract just a few years ago. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.

Mikel Jolet reviews the music of Sigur Ros. The group is from Iceland. They make instrumental music without lyrics... sort of. Jolet explores the language the band uses to sing its songs. He says the music is beautiful and dreamy. The CD by Sigur Ros is on MCA records.

Yesterday, in opposing the Homeland Security Act, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) cited the story of a Roman senator who found himself at odds with the Roman emperor. We hear portions of Byrd's speech. And to learn whether the story of Roman Senator Helvidius Priscus is parallel to Byrd's opposition to a measure supported by President Bush, Lynn Neary talks with Steve Rutledge, associate professor of Classics at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md.

NATO leaders open a two-day summit in Prague by formally offering membership to seven nations once under Soviet control. And NATO nations adopt a measure pledging support for U.N. efforts to disarm Iraq. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

Robert speaks with Oliver Wright, a reporter with The Times of London, about the scene at the public autopsy that took place in an art gallery in East London. More than 300 people showed up to see Professor Gunther von Hagens cut apart the body of a 72-year-old man. This was the first public autopsy performed in Britain in more than 170 years. The practice is illegal.

NPR's Nick Spicer reports from southern France on the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau wine at midnight last night. The annual festivities marking the arrival of each year's vintage have been a great marketing success, boosting sales of a mediocre product that goes bad after a few months on the shelf. This year, to keep the price up, growers held back on production.

Commentator Carol Wasserman says she feels a little more safe knowing there's a guy standing on the overpass, counting cars and keeping an eye on things.

The nation's first Black secretary of state notably broke from the Republican Party to endorse Barack Obama in 2008. He also gave a forthright condemnation of Islamophobia.

Former Soviet bloc countries were elated when they were able to open to the West. But that emotion has been replaced by discomfort, as deeply conservative societies grapple with the EU's liberalism.