Hawaii won't release birth information of Obama

Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie will end his mission to prove President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii because it's against state law to release private documents, his office said Friday. 

Abercrombie spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said, State Attorney General David Louie said, the governor he can't reveal an individual's birth documentation without a person's consent. 

"There is nothing more that Gov. Abercrombie can do inside the law to produce a document," said Dela Cruz. "Unfortunately, there are conspirators who will persist to question the citizenship of our president." 

Abercrombie, who was a friend of Obama's parents and know him as a child, launched an effort last month to find a way to dismiss conspiracy theories that the president was born elsewhere. 

The governor said at the time he was troubled by people who questioned Obama's birthplace for political reasons.

Hawaii's privacy laws have long banned the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn't have a touchable interest. 

So called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because they say there's no proof he was born in the United States, with many of the skeptics inquiring whether he was actually born in Kenya, his father's home country. 

Hawaii's health director said in 2008 and 2009 that she had seen and verified Obama's original vital records, and birth notices in two Honolulu newspapers were available within days of Obama's birth at Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu. 

This information called index data, shows a record for "Obama II, Barack Hussein, Male," according to the department's website. 

The president was born Aug. 4, 1961.
The Obama campaign issued a official document of live birth in 2008, an official document from the state showing the president's birth date, city and name, along with his parents' names and races.

U.S. plans to send 1,400 extra troops to Afghanistan

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, “The United States plans to send 1,400 additional Marines to Afghanistan to boost its struggle forces ahead of the spring fighting season.

The United States, which lead a 2001 attack of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban, has about 100,000 troops in the country, and President Barack Obama is under stress to show results so he can begin a promised withdrawal this year.

"The Marine battalion could start arriving on the ground as early as mid January. The forces would mostly be deployed in the south, around Kandahar, where the U.S. has determined troops over the past several months." the paper said. It cited unidentified officials.

The Taliban are at their strongest since they were ousted form power, while operations against the insurgency have intensified since 2008. More than 700 foreign troops were killed in Afghanistan last year, and civilian wounded were at record levels.

Obama said last month, that enough progress was being made in the operation to meet his pledge to start withdrawing U.S. troops by July and hand over security to Afghan forces by 2014.