Suzie Wong / Reuters

Chinese inventor Tao Xiangli modifies the circuits of his self-made robot at his house in Beijing on May 15. Tao, 37, spent about 150,000 yuan ($24,000) and more than 11 months to build the robot out of recycled scrap metal and electric wires that he bought from a second-hand market. The robot is just over 6 and-a-half feet tall and weighs over 500 pounds (480 kilograms).

Suzie Wong / Reuters

Chinese inventor Tao Xiangli welds a component of his self-made robot in the the yard of his house in Beijing on May 15

Slideshow: Robots that slither, crawl, walk, fly — and rock

Philippe Desmazes / AFP - Getty Images

Today's robots are rapidly gaining skills to help at home or in the factory, from flipping pancakes to slithering behind dangerous machinery. Some can even jam on the guitar.

Launch slideshow

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

An Afghan fireman stands next to the debris of a car at the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 16.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

A U. S soldier secures the area where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul on May 16.

 By Atia Abawi and Fazal Ahad, NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Six Americans were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a convoy carrying foreign troops in Kabul on Thursday, according to a NATO source. The victims included two soldiers and four civilian contractors, the source added. Officials said at least six Afghan civilians had also died. Full story

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

A U.S. soldier arrives at the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul on May 16.

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

An Afghan man directs his children away from the scene of the attack.

S. Sabawoon / EPA

A U.S. soldier inspects the scene.

More stories from Kabul on PhotoBlog

AFP - Getty Images

Men using sledgehammers on a Maserati car outside the Qingdao International Convention Center in Qingdao, Shandong province, on May 14, 2013.

AFP - Getty Images

A wealthy Chinese Maserati owner hired four sledgehammer-wielding men to smash up his $420,000 supercar in protest at poor customer service, Agence France-Presse reports.

The owner staged the dramatic intervention outside a convention center in Qingdao where a major auto show was being held. Local newspapers reported that his dispute with a Maserati dealership began when he took the car in for repairs and was charged for a new spare part even though a used part had been fitted.

In 2011, the city saw a similar stunt when the owner of a Lamborghini ordered the destruction of his vehicle after a service failed to get it running smoothly.

AFP - Getty Images

Crowds looking at the badly damaged Maserati.

Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

A view of the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake, near the city of Dunhuang in China's northwestern Gansu province, on May 12, 2013.

Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

Camels at rest in the desert near Dunhuang.

Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

A man smokes a cigarette near the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake.

Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

A Muslim food vendor cooks at his stall in Dunhuang.

Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

A guide leads camels near the Yueyaquan Crescent Lake.

Formerly a Silk Road hub and center for trade between China and the West, the city of Dunhuang relies heavily on tourism and features a number of historic sites dating back to the Han Dynasty. The city in China's northwestern Gansu province has an arid climate and is surrounded by sand dunes, a result of increasing desertification.

-- Agence France-Presse

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Bystanders look on as rescue workers try to save people from a burning building in central Lahore, Pakistan, on May 9, 2013.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A man sits on the window of a burning building before falling in central Lahore on May 9.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Bystanders look up at the burning LDA Plaza.

Reuters reports: Fire erupted on the seventh floor of the LDA plaza in Lahore and quickly spread to higher floors leaving many people trapped inside the building. At least three people fell from the high floors trying to avoid fire that engulfed the building, local media reports. Helicopters were used to rescue stranded victims from the roof of the building. 

Jamil Ahmed / Zuma Press

People try to save a man who lowered himself over the edge of the building to escape the fire.

Arif Ali / AFP - Getty Images

A Pakistani army helicopter rescues a man from the top of the building.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A man suffering from smoke inhalation is rushed away after being rescued from the building.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A policeman watches as rescue workers attempt to reach people trapped as a fire takes hold at the LDA Plaza.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Two men wait to be saved from the burning building.

AP

Smoke billows from a British-made BAe 146 cargo plane that caught fire while being unloaded at the airport in Wamena, in Indonesia's Papua province, on May 8, 2013. An official said that the plane caught fire after an oil drum fell from the aircraft and somehow sparked the fire.

-- The Associated Press

AP

"It's sort of like reality is on a need-to-know basis there, " says Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder of working in secretive North Korea. As chief Asia photographer for the AP, Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to the communist country, beginning with his first trip with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000.  "Every time I've gone back it's gotten a little more open," says Guttenfelder, who is now able post pictures to Instagram from the street in Pyongyang. "Wherever we go, I shoot what I see, but I don't get to go everywhere, that's for sure."

He was honored Wednesday night at the International Center for Photography with an Infinity Award for achievements in photography and the short film at left by MediaStorm was produced for the occasion.  "I'm not photographing dramatic, life-changing moments, I'm just trying to make real pictures of real moments in people's lives," says Guttenfelder. "It's always useful anywhere in the world for people to understand each other and for people to look hard at someone else's life and imagine that that could be them." NBC's Ian Williams interviewed Guttenfelder a few weeks ago about his experience. For more of Guttenfelder's images from North Korea see our slideshow below. 

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country by AP photographer David Guttenfelder.

Launch slideshow

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Vincent Yu / AP

A giant rubber duck created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman is towed along Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor on May 2, 2013. "Rubber Duck," which is 54 feet high, will be in Hong Kong until June 9. Since 2007, the duck has traveled to 10 countries and 12 cities.

Jessica Hromas / Getty Images

The Hong Kong Police band welcomes a floating duck sculpture in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong on May 2.

Previously on PhotoBlog: 

 Giant rubber duck thrills Sydney Harbor

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Reuters

A man argues with a member of the police April 29 as he holds a picture of a missing garment worker during a protest demanding capital punishment for those responsible for the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

Garment workers try to break the gate of a factory April 29 during a protest to demand capital punishment for those responsible for the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Savar, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh.

By Chris Blake and Farid Hossain, The Associated Press

SAVAR, Bangladesh -- Rescue workers in Bangladesh gave up hopes of finding any more survivors in the remains of a building that collapsed five days ago, and began using heavy machinery on Monday to dislodge the rubble and look for bodies.

At least 380 people were killed when the illegally constructed, eight-story Rana Plaza collapsed in a heap on Wednesday morning along with thousands of workers in the five garment factories in the building. About 2,500 survivors have been accounted for. The building owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested Sunday in the western border town of Benapole while he was trying to flee to India. Read full story

Wong Maye-e / AP

A body is carried out from the collapsed garment factory building April 28 in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh.

• See more PhotoBlog stories on the building collapse in Bangladesh

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Reuters

Rescue workers pull a garment worker from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, in Savar, 19 miles outside Dhaka, on April 27, 2013.

Reuters reports:

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Two factory bosses and two engineers were arrested in Bangladesh on Saturday, three days after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands, as the death toll rose to 341 but many were still being found alive. As many as 900 people could still be missing, police said.

The owner of the eight-story building that fell around more than 3,000 workers is still on the run. Police said several of his relatives have been detained to compel him to hand himself in, and an alert had gone out to airport and border authorities to prevent him from fleeing the country.

Related PhotoBlog post: Search for Survivors continues in Bangladeshi building collapse

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

Rescue workers attempt to rescue the garment workers from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building on Saturday

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GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing. 

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Volunteers and rescue workers search for survivorst at the scene of eight-story building collapse in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 25.

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

A woman reacts after identifying the body of her husband, killed in the collapse of an eight-story building in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 25.

By John Chalmers, Reuters

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The death toll from a building collapse in Bangladesh has risen to 160 and could climb higher, police said on Thursday, with people trapped under the rubble of a complex that housed garment factories supplying retailers in Europe and North America. 

The collapse, the third catastrophic incident at Bangladeshi factories in five months that have killed more than 200 people, could taint Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost products and services and call attention to Western retailers and other companies that obtain products from the country. Read full story

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Volunteers and rescue workers look for survivors at the scene of the collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 25.

A.M. Ahad / AP

A rescuer looking for survivors emerges from beneath a concrete slab in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 25.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

A rescue worker comforts a survivor who was trapped inside the rubble of the collapsed building in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 25.

A.M. Ahad / AP

A victim's body lies amid rubble at the site of a building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 25.

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

A young man reacts after seeing the body of a relative killed in the collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, on April 24.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Desperate attempts to rescue garment workers after building collapses in Bangladesh

Related stories on PhotoBlog:

• Chaotic scene as civilians work to put out another garment-factory fire in Bangladesh
• More than 100 killed in Bangladesh factory fire