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Pictures of the week: From car in a sinkhole to auto in the snow
Here's our pick of the pictures around the world this week...

Going down: A Chinese family got the shock of their lives when a giant sinkhole appeared in the road and their car tumbled into it. Luckily the family escaped unharmed (Rex)

Force of nature: A dramatic lightning bolt lights up the Grand Canyon's walls (TRAVIS ROE/U.S. DEPT OF THE INTERIOR/CATERS)

The world's longest Lego railway track - in Denmark of course - is more than 2.5 miles long (Rex Features)

A man stands in his damaged apartment after a car bombing in Reyhanli, in Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border (Reuters)

A bird flies underneath an atmospheric phenomenon known as a "sun dog" in the sky over Seaside Heights, New Jersey (Reuters)

Bangladeshis struggle against waves as they crashes onto the shore of the Bay of Bengal as cyclone Mahasen approaches. Despite fears of catastrophe the storm passed through with minimal casualties. A total of 18 people have been killed in Burma, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as a result of the cyclone (Reuters)

A dead tree stands in front of shallow water and a dried-up area of Lake George, 31 miles north of Canberra, Australia as a terrible drought affects the country (Reuters)

A man attaches prayer petitions with names written on cards to lotus lanterns at Jogye temple in preparation for the birthday of Buddha which falls on May 17 in South Korea (Reuters)

Summer weather: Snow fell in Shropshire (pictured), Devon and Dartmoor this week as an unusual blast of cold weather swept the nation (SWNS)

Pictures of the week: From colourful devotees in India

to a flying car

Here's the pick of the pictures around the world this week.

Devotees wearing traditional blue clothing walk on a pathway made of cement bags to offer prayers at a shrine along the Arabian Sea in Mumbai, India (Reuters)

Prince Harry pays tribute to those who died during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The young royal will spend a week in America on an official tour (Reuters)

Dinner is served! This is the moment a lucky bird had an easy meal when an unsuspecting fish jumped out of the water. The cormorant had been paddling in wait of a meal at the El Dorado Regional Park in California. Seconds after this photo was taken he gobbled up the poor rainbow trout whole. (Dr. Andrew Lee/Solent News / Rex Features)

Not the Netherlands, but China. Villagers trim stunning tulip blossoms in Qushui County Tulip Farm (ZUMA / Rex Features)

Queen Elizabeth arrives for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster where she unveiled the coalition goverment's legislative programme (Reuters)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Supersquirrel! This creature was caught flying between trees in Novosibirsk, Russia, just like the comic book hero Superman (Caters)

Tourists on traditional boats paddle through the water tunnels guarded by the military on the island of Nangan, near northern Taiwan (Reuters)

Rescue workers were astonished when they pulled a woman alive from the rubble of the Rana Plaza building 17 DAYS after it collapsed. The woman, identified as Reshma Begum, survived by scavenging biscuits from the bags of her dead colleagues. More than 1,000 people perished in the disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Reuters)

Emergency services wear protective clothing during an exercise simulating a chemical attack on an underground station in South Korea. The United States, Japan and South Korea remain on alert despite reports that North Korea has moved a set of missiles from a launch site (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A supporter of former cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan takes part during a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khan suffered severe injuries after he fell from a stage during a political rally. Pakistanis go to the polls on May 11 (PA)

The commute home? The Terrafugia TF-X is a partially electric-powered FLYING car, which has the ability to take off vertically, meaning passengers should be able to take off from their homes and soar above traffic

10 things to know about the world's first car

When Karl Benz built the first Patent-Motorwagen in 1885 (it was patented in 1886) he probably didn't realise quite the extent to which it would transform the world. So without further ado, here are ten things you might not have known about the progenitor of motoring.

It wasn't the first attempt at an automobile

Inventors were trying to put a 'car' on the road as early as the 18th century. However, all were attempts to automate the horse-drawn carriage, and were largely useless; the Patent-Motorwagen was the first automobile designed from the ground up to be powered by an internal combustion engine.

An American nearly got there first

American inventor George Selden was working on a horseless carriage at about the same time as Benz, filing a patent in 1879. Unfortunately it wasn't until 1895 that his patent for a 'safe, simple, and cheap road-locomotive light in weight, easy to control and possessed of sufficient power to overcome any ordinary inclination' was approved.

It took at least 12 years to develop

By 1873 Benz had developed a working two-stroke engine, and thereafter set about creating a useable carriage to put it in. The Patent-Motorwagen was complete by 1885 and officially unveiled to the public in Mannheim, Germany, on 3 July 1886.

It had a 0.9bhp engine

It was claimed that the first Motorwagen developed a heady 0.66bhp from its single-cylinder gas-powered engine. A later test showed that to be a conservative power figure, however - it actually had a mighty 0.9bhp. Let's put that into perspective: one of the cars on sale in the UK with the lowest power outputs today is the cdi version of the Smart Fortwo, with 54bhp, or 5,900 percent more than the Motorwagen!

The original prototype crashed

Difficult to control using a lever linked to the central front wheel, the 1885 prototype was crashed into a wall during a public demonstration. Fortunately camera phones hadn't been invented yet, so there was no hilarious footage to upload to YouTube.

It was rear-wheel drive

Drifting wasn't too easy with a horse and carriage, but the Patent-Motorwagen was the keen power slider's dream. Its engine powered the rear wheels via two chains linked to the back axle, good for some serious sideways action. Its tyres were solid rubber.

Karl Benz's wife stole one and went for a joyride

The story goes that Benz's wife, Bertha, took Motorwagen number three for a lengthy drive in August 1888 without his permission. With her two sons she drove the car 50-60 miles to her mother's house then returned three days later. The Bertha Benz memorial route between Frankfurt and Baden-Baden celebrates that historic journey.

Early versions couldn't climb hills

It was only after Bertha's trip that a second gear was added to the car, at her request; like an Austin Allegro, early versions couldn't handle even the mildest of inclines.

The first customers had to buy fuel from pharmacies

Of course, there was no network of fuel pumps in place when the Motorwagen first hit the cobblestones. Buyers had to fill up with small bottles of gasoline, at the time a substance used as cleaning fluid and available only from chemists.

Around 25 were sold

In a five-year period between 1888 and 1893, Benz sold 25 Patent-Motorwagens to wealthy pioneers. In 1893 the three-wheeler was replaced by an updated version with four wheels - the luxurious Benz Velo.

Mark Nichol