Here's the latest round-up of what we've been reading and watching this week, from the news and around the web:

As the deadline nears for the administration to determine this year’s refugees admissions cap, numerous human rights, foreign policy, and national security experts are calling for it to be no fewer than 75,000.

In a New York Times editorial, President and Chief Executive of the International Rescue committee David Miliband warns: “At stake are not just the lives of tens of thousands of victims of war and persecution who dream of starting a new life in America; at risk also are American values, the United States’ reputation and American interests around the world.”

In The Washington Post, Michael Chertoff, U.S. homeland security secretary from 2005 to 2009, echoes Miliband’s sentiments: “Cutting refugee admittances would not only be a moral failure but also damage our national interest abroad and our economy.”

Richard Cohen floats the idea of mandatory national service for young people as the solution to growing divides in the United States: “The overriding virtue is education—learning about fellow Americans, getting past skin color or regional smugness, stereotypes that the rich have of the poor and the poor have of the rich. We need a national service that throws us all together, the urban with the rural, the Fox News types with the MSNBC crowd. That way, Americans can get to know Americans and learn — as previous generations did — that we are all Americans.”

Refugee Spotlight of the Week: For a few Irish teens and young Syrian refugees, common ground is on the open sea. As part of the refugee integration project called Safe Haven Ireland, the teens learn to sail aboard Ireland’s largest sail training vessel, the Spirit of Oysterhaven. “Everyone is thrown into an equally unfamiliar environment – their background before they’ve come on board becomes less important. You can see a solid team mentality start to form from day one.”