The Nigerian government has been slow to fulfill a promise it made last spring. And, its sluggishness is putting kids at risk for lead poisoning, the advocacy group Humans Rights Watch says.

Last May, the Nigerian government pledged roughly $5 million to clean up lead contamination around illegal gold mines in northwest Nigeria. But so far, that money hasn't been released.

Police arrested several protesters and they sprayed irritants at a crowd gathered at the Michigan State House today.

As the Detroit Free Press reports, State Police used "chemical munitions" when the crowd tried to rush the Senate floor.

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Editor's Note: Throughout the Syrian uprising, the government has allowed few foreign journalists and other outsiders into the country. In this report, a Syrian citizen describes life in the capital, Damascus. For security reasons, NPR is not identifying the author.

As the Syrian military struggles against rebel fighters, it seems the army has not been paying a lot of attention to winning the hearts and minds of civilians.

House Republicans and the White House are at a stalemate over how best to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. As the deficit deadline approaches, the priority for Senate Budget Committee member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), is to protect the middle class.

When the New York Post published a freelancer's photograph of a man trapped in the path of an oncoming subway train, many photojournalists, editors and consumers decried the decision as unethical. Others argue that the photo was essential to the story.

Hypothermia kills an estimated 700 people experiencing, or at-risk of homelessness each year, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Every day, street outreach workers in cities across the nation go out into communities to encourage people on the street to take shelter, but many homeless people refuse.

Planet Money listener C. Jackson writes:

My family and I recently moved from the states to France and I've been noticing something odd on many of my purchase receipts: The price is listed in both Euro (which makes sense) and Franc (which doesn't exist anymore). I've included a recent ATM receipt ...

Turns out, our reporters had noticed this on trips to other eurozone countries, too. Is there some deep meaning hidden here about European identity and the future of the euro? Nah.