Young Palestinian men practice parkour, a sport that involves climbing and jumping on buildings and other structures, in Gaza City on July 26. Mohammed al-Jahbir (right, in orange shorts), 21, gets defensive when people are surprised that Palestinians are into parkour. "When anything new comes out in Gaza, everyone is like, 'Oh, wow, they do parkour? Oh, wow, they surf?' It should be normal that we do these things here, too," he says. Andrea Bruce/VII Network for NPR hide caption

An oarsman navigates his inner-tube boat across the raging Swat River in northwest Pakistan. The bridge that once traversed the river was destroyed by the floods. Susannah George/NPR hide caption

Pakistanis displaced by flooding reach for food aid thrown by a volunteer during a distribution outside a temporary camp operated by the Pakistan army in Sukkar, southern Pakistan. Kevin Frayer/AP hide caption

James' new CD is on Stax Records, once home to soul icons The Staple Singers and Otis Redding. Devin Dehaven hide caption