NATION IN BRIEF

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's 200 million-plus Orthodox Christians, said that he is eager to meet with Pope Benedict XVI this year in an effort to heal the long-standing rift between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Visiting this heavily Greek community northwest of Tampa for the annual Feast of the Epiphany, Bartholomew told reporters that the pope plans an official visit this year to his headquarters in Istanbul. The last official talks between the two churches broke off five years ago without an agreement on the theological issues that divide them.

ATLANTA -- A man who shot and injured his mailman because he wanted the federal government to take care of him was sentenced to life in prison. William Clayton Crutchfield, 60, of suburban Snellville shot Earl Lazenby up to seven times with a .380-caliber pistol on June 29 as the letter carrier pulled up to Crutchfield's mailbox.

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Zeta kept its strength in the eastern Atlantic and could break the record for the Atlantic storm lasting longest into January since record keeping began in 1851. The 27th and final named storm in a record-breaking hurricane season that officially ended more than a month ago, Zeta had sustained winds near 40 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Zeta poses no threat to land. Its first incarnation as a tropical storm lasted from Dec. 30 to about 4 a.m. Thursday when it briefly weakened into a depression. The storm was expected to weaken again soon because of strong wind shear, said Stacy Stewart of the National Hurricane Center.

-- From News Services