Stockholm announces British author Kazuo Ishiguro, best known for his novel "The Remains of the Day" , has won the 2017 Nobel Literature Prize. The 69-year-old author reacts to the news in London.

As Tokyo's cherry blossom season nears its peak, locals and tourists alike flock to see the dazzling floral displays across the Japanese capital. A key touristy attraction, this year's blooms came five days earlier than the average due to unusually warm weather since mid-February, according to the country's weather agency.

Hundreds of Pashtun Pakistanis take part in traditional games in the mountainous regions of Balochistan province. The games -- such as chicken catching, tug-of-war and running -- draw spectators from across the region which has seen years-long insurgency and separatist conflicts. "Our area is in dire need of such a festival. The district of Pishin used to be peaceful, but for some time now, unrest has been rising here," says a local resident.

The ancient Maya ball game is experiencing a revival in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Dressed in the traditional cloth that covers the pelvis, two teams of four players face off for control of a heavy rubber ball on a court dug into the ground, which represents the underworld. The sport has been modernized to include women and international competitions, as athletes call for greater institutional support and recognition in Mexico.

Laughter, songs and the sound of swinging bats fill a sports pitch in eastern Uganda, where a group of senior women gather every Saturday to play cricket. In floor-length dresses and running mostly barefoot, the so-called "cricket grannies" are an unlikely sight, but their shared love of the sport is helping them manage age-related health conditions, stress and loneliness. "When I come here and play cricket with my friends, I feel joyful and alive," says 78-year-old Jane Naisanga.

Nestled into a teddy bear twice its size, a baby gray titi monkey is cared for in a Colombian animal sanctuary. Caretakers at the Wildlife Care and Assessment Center Fauna Silvestre are aiming to rehabilitate the abandoned baby and release it back into the wild once it reaches adulthood. With this aim in mind, caretakers haven't named the monkey and are taking precautions to avoid human contact, including wearing a titi monkey mask at feeding times. "If the first thing they see when they're babies, so to speak is a human, they'll come to believe that their herd, that their species, are humans," says biologist Jian Pablo Giraldo.