CHILMARK, Mass. — President Obama arrived with family and friends on Martha's Vineyard yesterday for what aides said would be a relaxing week of beaches, a few games of golf — and hopefully no news.

Still, dozens of people lined the roads from the airport, holding signs reading "Aloha Obama Family" and "Hope, Obama." Upon their arrival, the Obamas rode in a motorcade to a rented 28-acre farmhouse.

Merchants, vacationers and many of the island's 15,000 year-round residents were eager for a glimpse, but this is a mostly private respite.

"He wants you to relax," said Bill Burton, a White House deputy press secretary who accompanied Obama here. "Have a good time, take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news."

DISCOVERY GETS GO-AHEAD FOR LIFTOFF

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has cleared space shuttle Discovery for liftoff tomorrow, and the weather looks promising as long as thunderstorms stay away during fueling.

After meeting yesterday afternoon, managers decided Discovery is in good shape to fly to the international space station. A power controller issue — one had to be replaced a week ago in the shuttle — did not stand in the way of the launch.

Discovery and seven astronauts will deliver about 17,000 pounds of space station supplies and equipment. Three spacewalks are planned during the 13-day flight.

SCOTLAND DEFENDS RELEASE OF BOMBER

LONDON — Scotland's government defended itself yesterday against unrelenting criticism from the U.S. over the decision to free the Pan Am Flight 103 bomber on compassionate grounds.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a Libyan convicted of killing 270 people in the 1988 airline bombing, was released Thursday because he is terminally ill with prostate cancer. He has returned to his native Libya to die.

His release was met with outrage by families of the U.S. victims of the bombing and criticized by President Obama as "highly objectionable."

But Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond told BBC Radio that it was wrong to assume that all those affected by the bombing were opposed to al-Megrahi's release.

$10K ALLEGEDLY PAID TO FACILITATE IRAQ BLAST

BAGHDAD — Attackers paid $10,000 to get a bomb-laden truck past checkpoints and next to the Iraqi Finance Ministry in last week's attacks, one of the suspected masterminds said in a confession broadcast yesterday.

Seeking to fend off widespread criticism over security lapses, the Iraqi military released what it said was the confession of a Sunni man it identified as the planner of one of the two suicide truck bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad. Baghdad's chief military spokesman said the man was a senior member of Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party who had confessed to supervising the attack against the Finance Ministry.

Wednesday's twin bombings killed at least 101 people and wounded hundreds more.

GREEN BAY HIRES FIRST BLACK POLICE OFFICER

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay has a black police officer for the first time in the 152-year history of its police department.

Solomon Ayres starts the first phase of a 17-week training regime this week. He says he expects some resistance from both black and white residents but thinks his life experiences will help defuse difficult situations.

Fran Jonet, president of Green Bay's Police and Fire Commission, said hiring a black recruit is a long-awaited step in the right direction. Census figures show that African-Americans make up about 2.5 percent of Green Bay's more than 98,000 people. Its police force has 177 officers, including 15 women, four American Indians or Alaska natives and one Hispanic.

CHINA TO TRY 200 IN XINJIANG VIOLENCE

BEIJING — More than 200 people are expected to go on trial this week for their involvement in sectarian riots last month that killed nearly 200 people in China's eastern region of Xinjiang, a state-run newspaper reported today.

The trials will take place in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang and the site of China's worst ethnic violence in decades, in which an additional 1,700 people were injured, the China Daily reported. The rioting pitted Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs against members of China's dominant Han ethnic group.