MELVILLE, N.Y. — In the end, the incredible claim by a Michigan man that he might be the toddler who disappeared 54 years ago from outside an East Meadow, N.Y., store was just that — incredible.

DNA tests conducted on John Robert Barnes, of Kalkaska, Mich., found he could not be Steven Craig Damman, who disappeared on Oct. 31, 1955, after his mother said she left him in front of a supermarket while she shopped.

In addition, a certified birth certificate obtained by Newsday yesterday through Barnes' father shows John Barnes was born on Aug. 18, 1955, in Pensacola, Fla. That means he was less than 3 months old at the time of the disappearance. Damman was nearly 3 years old when he vanished and sparked one of the largest missing-child hunts in Long Island history.

The DNA tests by the FBI specifically concluded there is no genetic relationship between Barnes and the mother of the real Steven Damman, officials said.

MORE SOLDIERS SEEK TREATMENT FOR ALCOHOL

The rate of Army soldiers enrolled in treatment programs for alcohol dependency or abuse has nearly doubled since 2003 — a sign of the growing stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Army statistics and interviews.

Soldiers diagnosed by Army substance abuse counselors with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31, according to the data. The latest data cover the first six months of the fiscal year that began in October.

Marines who screen positive for drug or alcohol problems increased 12 percent from 2005 to 2008, according to Marine Corps statistics. In addition, there were 1,060 drunken-driving cases involving Marines during the first seven months of fiscal 2009, which began in October, compared with 1,430 cases in all of fiscal 2008.

AL-QAIDA BLAMED FOR ATTACK IN SOMALIA

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia's national security minister and at least 24 other people were killed in a suicide attack yesterday, and an extremist Islamic group with alleged links to al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed accused al-Qaida of being behind the bombing, which also killed a senior Somali diplomat. He did not offer any evidence, but the attack appeared to be another indication that Somali Islamic militants are adopting two tactics long used by al-Qaida: suicide attacks and videos promoting their fundamentalist ideology.

INDIAN LEADER CALLS FOR END TO PERU PROTESTS

LIMA, Peru — A top Indian leader yesterday called for an end to protests that left dozens dead in Peru's Amazon after Congress revoked two decrees that indigenous groups said would spur oil and gas exploitation and other development on their ancestral lands.

At a news conference after lawmakers voted 82-14 to lift the disputed decrees, Daysi Zapata, vice president of the Amazon Indian confederation that led the protests, urged activists to lift blockades of jungle rivers and roads set up beginning in April at points across six jungle provinces.