National and International News-Friday, Dec. 15th

WASHINGTON (AP) - A top Iraqi official is urging President Bush to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U-S forces from Iraq. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, on a visit to Washington, says his country is in chaos and needs major changes. In his words, "We have to start from scratch."

PENTAGON (AP) - Outgoing defense chief Donald Rumsfeld gets a ceremonial sendoff at the Pentagon this afternoon. In a farewell broadcast to U-S troops, Rumsfeld calls the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan "historic chapters in the saga of human freedom."

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses have lost power in the Pacific Northwest in a wind and rain storm blamed in at least three deaths. One of the victims was a Seattle woman trapped in her basement by rising water.

COOPER SPUR, Ore. (AP) - The Western storm is compounding the difficulty of the search for three climbers missing for a week on Oregon's Mount Hood. A blizzard socked the mountain yesterday. Heat-seeking drones proved useless after their lenses fogged up.

DAGSBORO, Del. (AP) - Investigators are trying to determine if fog was a factor in the helicopter crash that killed a prominent East Coast developer last night. Joshua Freeman was a minority owner of the Washington Capitals hockey team. He and his pilot were killed shortly after he left a country-club party in Delaware.