Protected by the massive cast-iron frame of a former market, the ruins of an 18th century Barcelona neighborhood have become a symbol of Catalonia's drive to break away from the rest of Spain.

A huge red and yellow Catalan flag greets visitors to the Mercat de Born cultural center, whose hulking skeleton covers what remains of the shops, taverns and houses in the Catalan capital's La Ribera neighborhood.

Colombia's Nobel-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is in a "good mood" as he recovers from a lung infection in a Mexico City hospital, sources close to the 87-year-old writer said Friday.

Garcia Marquez's son said his family decided to take him to the hospital as a precaution on Monday and health officials said he was taking antibiotics for lung and urinary tract infections.

When Ahmed Mater visited Mecca in 2010 something felt off. Dozens of cranes were eating away at the mosque to make way for a larger complex surrounding the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure to which observant Muslims pray toward five times a day that also draws millions of pilgrims annually from around the world.

The changes were irrevocably transforming the city's landscape. So Mater, a practicing physician and modern artist, took pictures. He titled his project "Desert of Pharan" in a nod to Mecca's ancient name.

Fifty years after her first book was published, Anne Tyler is set to release her 20th novel.

And yes, it will be set in Baltimore.

With two museums already in his empire, tycoon Liu Yiqian is a would-be Chinese Getty or Guggenheim, but a row over the authenticity of a scroll that cost him millions of dollars threatens his artistic legacy.

The work, with nine Chinese characters in black ink reading "Su Shi respectfully bids farewell to Gong Fu, Gentleman Court Consultant", is the star exhibit at Liu's newly-opened Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai.

Colombia's Nobel-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the 87-year-old author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude," was hospitalized Thursday for undisclosed reasons in Mexico City, a health ministry official said.

"The family has asked us not to disclosed information about his state of health," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

The last of 10 artistic masterpieces from France arrived under heavy security in China on Thursday, for a show featuring a billion dollars' worth of art.

The exhibition at Beijing's National Museum will include Auguste Renoir's masterpiece "Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette", normally kept at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

Italy on Wednesday said it had recovered a painting worth millions of euros by Paul Gauguin, stolen in London in 1970, bought by an Italian factory worker for a pittance and hung in his kitchen for almost 40 years.

The artist's "Fruit on a table or small dog" was stolen from a house in the British capital along with "Woman with two chairs" by fellow Frenchman Pierre Bonnard, and they were recovered together in Italy from the pensioner, who used to work for Italian auto giant Fiat.

Italy's top art detectives, global experts in finding stolen works, launched a smartphone app Wednesday to get people to collaborate on cracking crimes.

The application, which will be available to download from AndroidMarket and AppleStore soon, was "thought up and created for citizens", according to Mariano Mossa, the head of Italy's heritage police.

Wife swapping among Namibia's nomadic tribes has been practiced for generations but a legislator's call to enshrine it in law has stirred debate about women's rights and tradition in modern society.

The practice is more of a gentlemen's agreement where friends can have sex with each others' wives with no strings attached.