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.

Claudio Santana / Pool via EPA

An aerial picture shows part of the route of the Arica-La Paz railway during its centennial commemoration, in Chile on May 13, 2013.

One of the world's most remarkable railway lines celebrated its centenary on Monday. The 273-mile track traverses desert and mountain landscapes as it rises from sea-level in the Chilean port of Arica to a height of 13,800 feet en route to the Bolivian city of La Paz.

Claudio Santana / AFP - Getty Images

Inaugurated on May 13, 1913, the line has a colorful history and remains a source of controversy, according to a report by BBC News:

The railway was built by Chile to compensate Bolivia for its loss of land during the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific.

Chile won the war and annexed a swathe of Bolivian land roughly the size of Greece, leaving Bolivia landlocked.

The idea behind the railway was to give Bolivia access to the sea for its exports. It cost Chile £2.75m to build - around £195m ($300m) in today's money.

The Bolivians still demand sovereignty over at least a part of their former Pacific coastline, and last month took their case to the International Court in The Hague.

Claudio Santana / Pool via EPA

A conductor waits for passengers in Arica on May 13, 2013. Passenger services stopped running on the line in 1996, according to the BBC, but a special train ran to mark the railway's centenary.

Claudio Santana / Pool via EPA

Passengers ride on the Arica-La Paz railway during its centennial commemoration on May 13, 2013.

Claudio Santana / Pool via EPA

Passengers wait to board a train in Arica on May 13, 2013.

Claudio Santana / Pool via EPA

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Toll collector Jacquie Dean waits for a vehicle at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza in San Francisco on March 26, 2013. The Golden Gate Bridge will change from manned tollbooths to a full electronic tolling system starting on Wednesday.

Eric Risberg / AP

An old Chevrolet makes its way past the toll booths on Tuesday.

By Joe Rosato Jr., NBCBayArea.com

As the end of her afternoon shift collecting tolls on the Golden Gate Bridge ended, Dawnette Reed felt the tears begin to come.

She stepped out of her booth at lane three and made the walk back to the office for the last time. After 18 years collecting tolls at the bridge, her job was done.

"I always say I know customers from the [baby’s] car seat to the driver's seat," Reed said of her regular customers. Read the full story.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Toll collector Marilyn Alvarado receives the last toll from Jim Eddie, who is driving a vintage 1937 Packard, at her tollbooth early on Wednesday.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Marilyn Alvarado waves as she leaves her tollbooth, as the last human toll collector, early on Wednesday.

Related:

Golden Gate Bridge celebrates 75th birthday in style

Exploring the offbeat of the Golden Gate Bridge

Slideshow: The Golden Gate Bridge

AFP / Getty Images

San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge turns 75. Look back at the history of the bridge in our slideshow.

Launch slideshow

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Li Anhua and his wife Shi Huaju wait for a taxi as they embark on the first stage of a 50-hour journey home, in Shanghai on Jan. 27, 2013.

Like millions of migrant workers in China, Li Anhua and his wife Shi Huaju make the annual trek home for the Chinese Spring Festival, travelling for 50 hours by train and bus to see their two children after a long year of separation. Reuters photographer Carlos Barria, who accompanied the couple on the journey this year, takes up the story:

There was not much emotion left after crossing central China on a 50-hour train and bus journey. Just a soft touch on the face and a forced hug was all that Li Jiangzhon and his sister Li Jiangchun got from their parents after a long year of absence.

They are just one story among millions of Chinese migrant workers who have left their loved ones behind to look for a better future for themselves and their families.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Li Anhua smokes a cigarette in the couple's cramped room in Shanghai as he packs for his Spring Festival trip on Jan. 27, 2013.

Every year millions of migrant workers travel to their hometowns during the Spring Festival, a massive movement of people that is considered the biggest migration in the world in such a short period of time. Public transportation authorities expect to accommodate about 3.41 billion travelers nationwide during the holiday, including 225 million railway passengers, according to Xinhua news agency.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Li Anhua (2nd L) and Shi Huaju (C) wait in line at a train station gate in Shanghai on Jan. 28, 2013.

They left their home on a cold Sunday night. Ahead of them: 50 hours of hard traveling conditions and cold, followed by the reward of spending 30 days with their children. Li and Shi have been doing this trip every year for the last twelve years, following the birth of their son Li Jiangzhon. Back then, the couple decided to leave the boy with Li Anhua’s mother in a rural village in Sichuan province, around 1,200 miles to the west.

Preparation for the trip began early this year. They managed to buy their train tickets online (116 CNY each, or about $19), which saved them the headache of fighting for a place in hours-long lines, as in previous years, among a swarm of workers and bulky packages.

They got good seats: a place for each of them, which is considered very lucky. Many migrants can’t get a seat on the train and have to travel standing or curled up in any free space they can find.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Shi Huaju leans on her husband as they travel on board a train from Shanghai on Jan. 28, 2013.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Migrant workers play cards as they travel on a train near Huaihua, in Hunan province, on Jan. 28, 2013.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Li Anhua stands next to his food cart as a student eats dinner in a suburban area of Shanghai on Nov. 26, 2012.

Li and Shi met twelve years ago, after they migrated to Shanghai and took their place among the millions of Chinese migrant workers that play a key role in today’s second largest economy. After working for a few months in a restaurant, they decided to work together as street food vendors in the suburbs of Shanghai. Every day, they push a wooden cart with two wheels to street corners where students from a local university buy their food.

Life is hard on their combined monthly income of 2000 CNY ($320) — just enough to send a little money home and for them to rent a room just three meters by three meters in an old apartment far from the city center. Shanghai is one of the most expensive cities in China.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Shi Huaju reads a text message on her mobile phone as she boards a bus for the next stage of her journey, in Chongqing on Jan. 29, 2013.

After the long train ride and a three-hour bus journey, the couple picked up a taxi in Luzhou and started the final 30-minute leg of their trip. At a dark intersection on a dirt road, the taxi suddenly stopped. Li looked around but he couldn't remember the way to their house. He couldn't recognize the way with all the new construction around. He said, "This factory area was not here last year." Finally a small sign indicated the road to Dayan village.

As the taxi stopped in front of a three-story building a little girl screamed, “mammy, mammy,” and the couple got out of the car. For her and her brother, their most cherished present of this Chinese New Year had arrived.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

Li Anhua hugs his daughter Li Jiangchun as he and Shi Huaju arrive at their home town of Dayan, Sichuan province, on Jan. 29, 2013.

See more pictures of the journey in a post on Reuters' Photographers Blog and more stories by Carlos Barria on PhotoBlog.

Kevin Frayer, a photographer based in Delhi for The Associated Press, captured these scenes over the past 48 hours as he traveled around the Indian capital.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A man tries to stop his buffaloes jamming traffic as a man tries to get by with his bicycle on a busy bridge on a hazy morning in New Delhi, India, Nov. 5, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A man drives his children to school on his motorcycle in New Delhi, Nov. 5, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A boy is washed by his parents from a local water source under an expressway in New Delhi, Nov. 5, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A man on a horse and others are stuck in traffic on a bridge in New Delhi, Nov. 5, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A Hindu man throws ash off a bridge into the polluted holy Yamuna River, in New Delhi on Nov. 6, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Drivers and cows are jammed in traffic in New Delhi, Nov. 5, 2012.

Kevin Frayer / AP

A man dries laundry on the polluted Yamuna River, holy to Hindus, on a hazy morning in New Delhi on Nov. 6, 2012.

See more of Kevin Frayer's work on PhotoBlog:

• Outside the Frame: 'Old Delhi offers a window on India'
• The first cut is the holiest
• Child laborers rescued in raids on Delhi factories
• Incredible journey: Thousands make pilgrimage to Himalayan shrine
• Patchy monsoon leaves Indians scrambling for water

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Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Drivers and mechanics of Premier Padmini taxis gather together at a workshop in Mumbai, India on October 4, 2012. The Premier Padmini was manufactured in India by Premier Automobiles from 1964 to 2000 and is based on the design of Fiat's 1100-series cars from the 1960s. The vehicle quickly became the iconic workhorse in Mumbai's fleet of black and yellow taxis until economic liberalisation in the 1990s allowed different makes and models to be produced in India.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver demonstrates the use of a manually operated fare meter on October 12, 2012.

The Premier Padmini, the iconic workhorse in Mumbai's fleet of black and yellow cabs for nearly 50 years, faces an imminent demise. With the introduction of a government order banning taxis over 25 years old, the number of Padminis has begun to dwindle and, in a few years, they will be gone from the Indian city's streets altogether.   

Reuters photographer Vivek Prakash, once a taxi driver himself (though in the relatively sedate streets of Brisbane, Australia), set out to pay an affectionate tribute to the car he calls "the grand old dame of Mumbai's streets":

Power steering? Who needs it. Nothing a bit of elbow grease can’t fix. Air conditioning? Forget about it! You live in a sultry humid city, you should learn to love it. Electric windows? I don’t think so, use the handle to roll it down. Suspension? What suspension? Just remember you’ll feel every little bump on your way home tonight.

Here in Mumbai we love to hate the Padmini. They are uncomfortable, hot, steamy, and funny smelling. But when they’re gone, we’ll miss them.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver waits for customers in front of an apartment building in Mumbai's suburbs on October 3, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Customers sit in the cramped back seat of a Premier Padmini taxi during rush hour in Mumbai on October 4, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A taxi driver looks out of his Premier Padmini while stuck in traffic in a slum in Mumbai on October 3, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver waits for customers on Marine Drive in Mumbai on October 2, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A de-registered Premier Padmini taxi is pictured covered in dust with love hearts etched on its windows in a scrapyard in Mumbai on October 2, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A taxi driver sleeps on the boot of his Premier Padmini at a taxi park in Mumbai on October 4, 2012.

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Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Vehicles pass the intersection in front of the Sule Pagoda in central Yangon, Myanmar, Sept. 24, 2012. Yangon is a town of taxis, small privately owned buses and other improvised vehicles providing alternative to the choking public transport.

Reuters reports — For more than a century, owners of ox-drawn carts, World War Two-era trucks and decrepit buses have descended on a shrine under a banyan tree in Myanmar's biggest city to bless one of the world's oldest vehicle fleets, dominated by wheezing Japanese rust-buckets from the 1980s or older. Today, as the country emerges from 49 years of isolation, the Shwe Nyaung Pin Nat Shrine has new visitors - freshly minted cars.

As Myanmar opens up, the most immediate physical changes are on its streets, as new cars begin plying roads long dominated by rattletrap buses and rusting taxies. Barely changed since the British colonial era in the early 20th century, some of the decades-old buses and trains are starting to be retired. Read the full story.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A potential customer breastfeeds her baby at a newly imported car dealership in central Yangon, Sept. 23. Saloons with newly imported vehicles recently mushroomed across the country offering everything from Indian micro cars to expensive Rolls Royce models. It is now much easier and cheaper to import cars as the incredibly complicated and expensive procedure has been replaced with something more affordable.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers traveling on a government-owned ferry get ready to disembark at the Dallah township of Yangon, Sept. 18. Dallah Township, a short ferry ride cross the river, is the place where the big city touches the province. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

A driver rests in a hammock under his truck parked in central Yangon, Sept. 19.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Drivers of different vehicles wait for passengers to arrive by ferry from Yangon to Dallah Township, Sept. 18. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries. As soon as a ferry unloads passengers, hundreds of rickshaws, motorcycles, pick-up trucks and small busses start their loud performance to get people on-board. They don't leave on schedule and are often overcrowded.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Schoolgirls read a letter as they sit among other passengers travelling on a government-owned ferry to Dallah Township, Sept. 18. Thousands of daily migrants cross the river to Dallah using dangerous long tail boats and cheap government operated ferries.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers wait for a Bayboo bus to leave the station in North Dagon Township, Sept. 18. On line 61, several Bayboo, meaning 'big belly' in Burmese, buses take passengers from North Dagon Township to the city. Possibly the oldest operating bus in the world, "Bayboo" is an improvised local legend that has maneuvered dirty roads for over 70 years. The original vehicle, whose only charm is its spectacular ugliness, was a World War II military Chevrolet C15.

Damir Sagolj / Reuters

Passengers wait for a bus to leave a station in front of a shopping mall in central Yangon, Sept. 23.

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Dmitry Astakhov / Government Press Service via RIA Novosti - AP

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, center, holds a cabinet meeting to discuss railway ticket pricing on a train leaving Omsk on Aug 6, 2012. Deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich is at left and Enegy Minister Alexander Novak at right.

Dmitry Astakhov / Government Press Service via RIA Novosti - AP

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits a railway museum in the village of Tpoki in Siberia on Aug. 6, 2012.

See more images of Dmitry Medvedev on PhotoBlog.

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AFP - Getty Images

A policeman looks on near the mangled wreckage of a truck which crashed near Pappad Morh in Samba district, India, on July 27, 2012.

A truck carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in Indian-administered Kashmir killing 16 people, The Associated Press reports.

The worshipers were returning from a trek to the remote Himalayan shrine of Amarnath, site of an annual pilgrimage undertaken by hundreds of thousands of Hindus.

Channi Anand / AP

Police officers inspect the wreckage of a truck after it veered off a mountain road and plunged into a gorge about 65 kilometers southwest of Jammu, India, on July 27, 2012.

Channi Anand / AP

A police official said the truck was carrying pilgrims visiting a Hindu shrine and 16 people were killed in the accident.

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Reuters photographer Adrees Latif attended the 33rd annual Truckers Jamboree at the Iowa 80 in Walcott, Iowa, which is said to be the world's largest truck stop.  

Adrees Latif / Reuters

A man raises the arm of his 20-month-old daughter Dezirae, a request for passing truck drivers to blow their horns, during the Iowa 80 truck stop's 33rd Annual Truckers Jamboree in Walcott, Iowa on July 12, 2012.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

Marin Page, 13, watches the festivities while lounging next to her family's truck.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

Joyce Wagner sits on a bale of hay while taking part in the jamboree.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

Truckers and local residents attend the jamboree.

Adrees Latif / Reuters

A child in a stroller is covered with a cloth depicting an image of the Statue of Liberty during the jamboree.

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