With the election in Germany bringing immigration to the fore, the NPR podcast Rough Translation visits an improv class where new arrivals learn the unwritten rules of German culture. 

Syrians’ Hajj pilgrimage to the sacred Islamic cities of Madinah and Makkah in Saudi Arabia has begun via Turkey. [...] “Seemingly small, people-centric policies will create big impacts for Turkey’s long-term engagement in the region.”

Jordan has adopted new measures to make it easier for Syrian refugees to obtain work permits in the construction sector, a move that is expected to improve the living conditions of those who work in the industry and protect them from abuse at the hands of employers.

Canada is combating terrorism by improving “social cohesion” in Lebanon, which is inundated with Syrian refugees. Can it possibly work? [...] It is a subtle weapon; social cohesion improvements lack the immediate impact of a bomb. But can good intentions, friendly smiles and linking words be an effective response to terrorism?

President Donald Trump's U.N. ambassador called Monday for the U.N. and aid agencies to shift focus in how they support Syrians in need by boosting support for roads, schools and hospitals in neighboring countries that have been overwhelmed by millions of refugees. Speaking in Jordan, host to some 660,000 Syrian refugees, Nikki Haley argued that lack of coordination among aid agencies has led duplicated efforts and inefficiencies after seven years of civil war in the Arab country.

This stand is the fourth commercial venture that Zwawe has opened in São Paulo in as many years, but the first, he says, that will show “what authentic Syrian cuisine really is.” He’d opened his previous stand inside a bakery in the industrial district of Brás, just east of downtown. “I used to do the recipes that people here are more familiar with, like falafel, kebab, sfihas, and kibbehs,” he says.

To improve the standard of living in refugee camps, a high-level of engagement must be on the table. Stefani Mikov and Emir Üçer, two young Turkish engineers from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), have come up with long-term answers to improving the lives of these temporary guests, whose socioeconomic problems are turning out to be more permanent.