Berlin - A US author who is based in Italy, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, was appointed Wednesday to one of Germany's top arts jobs, as curator of the Documenta art fest held every five years.

In Kassel, Germany, the Documenta board picked her from a short list of art critics and exhibition managers to run the 100-day Documenta beginning in June 2012.

Christov-Bakargiev, 50, hails from New Jersey and did her academic studies in Italy.

Brussels - The European Union should make it easier for asylum seekers to find work, take better care of the most vulnerable applicants and clear up the question of which member state should handle which request, the EU's executive said Wednesday.

"There is a big difference from member state to member state" in the number of asylum applications they receive and the proportion which they approve, and "this is injustice, because the burden on certain member states is considerably different," EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot told journalists in Brussels.

BERLIN, Dec. 2 - Knut the polar bear, possibly the most famous Berliner of recent years, is likely to eventually be moved out of the German capital.

The bear was born in the Berlin Zoo two years ago this Friday. But officials say keeping Knut as he grows older and larger would involve spending millions of euros on adequate quarters that would also include a mate, The Independent reported.

"He should go sooner rather than later," Heiner Klos, chief bear keeper, said. "Knut must finally find a new home."

Knut is expected to move to another zoo by 2010.

Berlin - Germany completed Tuesday the demolition of a communist-era building that doubled as a house of parliament and palace of culture, clearing the site for a replica of the earlier Berlin royal palace.

Last week, a design for the old-new palace, to be named the Humboldt Forum, was picked, but building work at the centre-city site will not start for another two years.

Completing two years of work, diggers ripped down a staircase of the Palace of the Republic, which was once a 180-metre-long building lined with the lethal asbestos insulation and clad with copper- colour glass.

Berlin - German police pathologists are close to identifying the remaining two of the three Germans killed in last week's Mumbai attacks, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday.

India has already said three died, but Germany normally declines to say someone has died in a disaster until it has unquestionable proof.

Ralph Burkei, a Munich television executive, died from injuries he suffered in a fall as he attempted to escape down the facade of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

Berlin - The UN Security Council is close to passing a new resolution that authorizes a European Union fleet to fight piracy, according to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday.

The EU operation, using seven warships that mostly already patrol near the Gulf of Aden, is scheduled to form up on December 8 to protect merchant ships from pirates on the Somali coast.

Answering questions from Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Steinmeier said he welcomed the progress in Security Council consultations on a new resolution. Last week the United States demanded changes.