The artwork ''Virgen de Tobed'' by Jaume Serra, dated in 1359, is seen in this undated picture provided by the Prado Museum in Madrid January 29, 2013.

MADRID | Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:23pm EST

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Prado museum received its biggest private donation in decades on Tuesday with the gift of 12 medieval and Renaissance works by Spanish artists.

The paintings and sculptures include "The Virgin of Tobed", the central panel of the altarpiece of a church in northeastern Spain and an exceptional example of Catalan Italo-Gothic painting attributed to Jaume Serra.

The collection, donated by a businessman from Barcelona in a ceremony attended by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, will join paintings by Spanish masters such as El Greco, Velazquez and Goya in one of Europe's most venerated museums.

"These aren't times of lavish state spending, so this donation is generous and tremendously timely," said Jose Pedro Perez Llorca, president of the Prado's board of trustees.

Spain is mired in a deep crisis which has forced the government to apply severe spending cuts to try to meet public deficit targets agreed with its partners in the European Union.

"The Prado is the memory of an ambitious nation that has never been stopped by hardship," Rajoy said.

"This donation enriches in an extraordinary way a museum...which is an indispensable element of our image as a country," he added.

The patron, Barcelona businessman and engineer Jose Luis Varez will receive the rare honor of having a room in the Madrid museum named after him.

The museum, which had 2.8 million visitors last year, did not say when the newly donated works will go on show.

(Reporting by Teresa Larraz; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Paul Casciato)

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BEIJING | Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:43am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to release hourly air pollution monitoring data in 74 of its biggest cities starting on New Year's Day, state media said on Sunday, in a sign of increasing responsiveness to quality-of-life concerns among prosperous urban people.

Choking pollution and murky grey skies in Chinese cities is a top gripe among both Chinese and expatriates.

Microscopic pollutant particles in the air have killed about 8,600 people prematurely this year and cost $1 billion in economic losses in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an, according to a study by Beijing University and Greenpeace that measured the pollutant levels of PM2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.

The new monitoring will include not only PM2.5, but also sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a Friday announcement by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Data will be collected from 496 monitoring stations, it said.

First Beijing, then other cities have become more public about their air quality data since the U.S. embassy in Beijing began publishing hourly data from a pollution monitor installed on embassy grounds in Beijing.

The embassy's monitor often diverged with official air quality readings, adding to public pressure for the city to come clean about the state of its air.

The United States has extended its monitoring program to its consulates in China.

Sunday was a clear and sunny winter day in Beijing, with the levels of ozone and PM2.5 declared "moderate" or "good", according to embassy data. The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center (www.bjmemc.com.cn) rated PM10 concentrations as "excellent".

Many Chinese cities have removed belching smokestacks and coal-burning factories from their centers in the past few years, but a rise in the number of cars during the same period has created new air quality problems.

(Reporting By Lucy Hornby; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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