If found guilty, Russell could face a maximum ban of up to two years under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. Missing three tests in 12-month period amounts to a failed dope test under the WADA guidelines.

“It’s been stressing and hard playing cricket and all that’s in the back of your head. But at the end of the day you have to do what you have to do,” Russell told Jamaican Observer.

“It’s like a big cloud over my head. If I get a ban then definitely I’m out of cricket [during the period of the suspension]; I mean all formats. So I’d just love to know I’m back and I can represent Jamaica Tallawahs, West Indies, and all the other teams I play for in the world.

“Honestly, I’m being positive and I haven’t been thinking about anything else that I want to do apart from playing cricket; doing what I love. I have so many fans out there and they would be disappointed, just as I would be. I just want to remain positive at the moment. I think I can [avoid a suspension] with the help of God; I think it’s out of my control, so I just have to wait on what happens on Tuesday.” In March 2016, Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) pressed a legal charge against Russell for failing to provide his whereabouts between January and July 2015.

According to JADCO Russell had failed to file his whereabouts on January 1, July 1 and July 25 that year despite several reminders over email, phone and letters.

In his defence, Russell told the tribunal that he had not been properly trained to file the whereabouts, and that he had authorised his agent and travel agent to file his whereabouts since he was busy with cricket commitments.

The three-member tribunal comprising Hugh Faulkner, Dr Marjorie Vassell and Dixeth Palmer, a former Jamaica cricketer, has been deliberating on the case for a long time and even delayed the original verdict date last December.

Russell, who is recovering from a left hamstring injury which forced him out midway through the Big Bash League in Australia earlier this month, tested his fitness last Saturday when he turned to play a league game for St Catherine’s Cricket Club.

The announcement was made yesterday at a press conference held at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TT FA) office at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.

Lawrence, who was appointed as the TT head coach on January 21, was also officially unveiled as the TT coach yesterday.

Campbell, born to Jamaican parents, made 73 appearances for England between 1996 and 2007. President of the TT FA David John-Williams said Lawrence has been granted the luxury to choose his staff.

John-Williams said, “Dennis has been given the opportunity to choose his own staff. Over the last couple of days he has recommended somebody who he would like to be his assistant.

He is a UEFA Pro Licence coach. He is a legend in the game, in the English Premiership.

He was part of the Arsenal invincibles and that person is Sol Campbell. I have been able to secure his signature at five o’clock this morning (yesterday), so he is signed and on board.” Lawrence scored a header against Bahrain in 2005 to earn TT a spot at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The TT FA president is hopeful Lawrence can use his head in a different capacity.

John-Williams said, “His head took us to the World Cup in 2006, and now he is charged with using that same head in a different way to take us to Russia 2018.

Dennis, I welcome you officially on board and all the best.” Lawrence, who thanked Roberto Martinez and Graeme Jones for giving him his first coaching stint in England with Wigan Athletic, said it will be a tough task to qualify for Russia but it is not impossible. Lawrence, for the second time since his appointment, was unwilling to divulge the details of his contract.

“The length of my contract is the length of my citizenship. I am here and I am committed to Trinidad and Tobago football if it takes me the rest of my life.” Prior to Lawrence getting the job, Belgian Tom Saintfiet was the TT coach for a month before resigning, citing a lack of support from the TT FA.

There have been some situations of indiscipline among the TT footballers in recent times, something Lawrence is confident he can resolve.

“I’ve spent four and a half years in the Army, I think everybody knows my background. I have conducted myself in a very disciplined, professional manner throughout my life and my career.

“In terms of discipline there is going to be clear directions to what I expect, what Trinidad and Tobago as a country expect, and I also expect the players to follow these patterns and be able to work and enjoy the work.” Last year, three national players were reprimanded for leaving camp to attend a boat ride, while months later two players allegedly showed up to training camp smelling of alcohol.

Veteran TT striker Kenwyne Jones has been out of favour recently but Lawrence said that all players, once committed, will be a part of his team.

“Every player that holds a Trinidad and Tobago passport is going to be in my setup, he is going to be involved. Kenwyne is a player that I know very well, I played with Kenwyne, I spoke to Kenwyne, I’ve got a relationship with Kenwyne. Kenwyne has given yeoman service to Trinidad and Tobago football.” The new coach said he plans to keep the communication lines open with his players. “I plan to speak to the players over the next couple weeks, find out exactly what are their thoughts and what are they thinking. Any player that wants to be involved with me there is an open door.

If a player for whatever reason thinks he is not up for the task, and he does not want to be involved, I will move on to the next player. The players that I want around me are going to be the players that are committed to the cause and the goals that I want to achieve for Trinidad and Tobago.” Lawrence’s first major goal will be getting favourable results when the World Cup qualifiers resume. TT will face Panama on March 24 and Mexico on March 28. Both matches will be played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

Lawrence was appointed on January 21 as the head coach of the national team. Smart, who has 50 years experience coaching in football, likes the decision to appoint Lawrence but knows it may be challenging for the former national player.

Smart said, “It is a good appointment, but I believe they giving a boy a man’s job to do. I don’t know if Lawrence has the experience but I would like to test him. I am not against any young persons.” Despite a dismal start to the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying Smart believes Trinidad and Tobago can still qualify but says the squad of players must be fully utilised.

“Yes (we have a chance to qualify), they have eight games (left).

You must have a working system.

You have to look at the time span between the games, you also have to know the set of games, when are you playing them, how you preparing the players. Sometimes you have to use height, weight, size, speed and different methods for different teams.” Smart, who coached former national striker Stern John as a youngster, explained, “You can’t go and play Germany with fellas five feet eight. You have to have fellas six feet and over. You have to be able to mix the players to suit. You have to know the style that Costa Rica coming with, you have to know the style that Mexico coming with. You have to know all these things as a coach going into a game and adjust to suit, that is why you have 22 men so everybody on the bench would get a chance.” TT will face Panama on March 24 and Mexico on March 28 when the World Cup qualifiers resume.

Both matches will be played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

Borneo smiled, broadly. It was clear that this was a revamped man. A man who has a clear mission, musically and otherwise.

Last year’s “Different Me” established him as one of local music’s rising stars.

This year he intends to be its “Hero”. Borneo has released “Hero” which is also the title of the album, along with five other songs for the season –“Find Yuh Way”, “Go Go Dancer”, “Too Lit”, “True Fetter” and “Doh Blame It”.

Along with the six other songs, Borneo has created an EP (Extended Play) mix which includes his 2016 hit, “Different Me.” The EP contains 14 songs.

The jacket of the EP mix shows a Clark Kent/Superman-like Borneo with “Hero” emblazoned on his chest.

He said of the 2016 success experienced with “Different Me,” “It was something that I never expected. But the adrenaline was really high. I was thankful.” Borneo, 28, sat down with Newsday on Chacon Street to discuss his work.

He is celebrating five years in the music industry this year and the EP was done to build his catalogue as well as to a way of saying thanks to the many people who supported him through the years.

This, he said, was an important milestone for him. “Hero” came about while working with Jovan James (the writer of 2016’s “Different Me”). The song was released in early January.

“I was looking for a song that would describe the fifth year of music and he was like, _yow, hero’. We were looking for a name for the album and this becomes the name of the album.

It was the name of the album,” he said.

The album includes songs from Borneo’s five years in music.

For Borneo, “Hero” conveys the double meaning of not only being the hero of the party – going to every fete but also doing good throughout one’s life.

“Hero is not a singular thing. A woman could be a ‘Shero’ too. She could be going non-stop as well. It have women who go non-stop for the season as well,” he said.

“Together we all heroes because of the crime and all of those things going on,” Borneo added speaking to the song’s double meaning and what he hoped it would convey to audiences.

The song took him out of his musical comfort zone with an increased bpm (beats per minute) – at 132 bpm whereas his usual comfort is at 128 bpm.

While the song was being played on every medium, many were unaware that he was its singer, he added.

“Now with the song comes a character.” He first performed with the cape on January 25. It has now become a part of his live performances.

Borneo was pleased with his successes thus far, stating that his aim was to “create hits. For my songs to continue going. I have songs that you would want to play. As you hear it, it would take you back and as you go through the songs it takes you back.” He has very little expectation for Carnival 2017 or any other Carnival for that matter, what he wants most, “is to create music for people to enjoy and be happy.” In the future while he wants to have an international resonance to his music, he wants to ensure that his music roots remain grounded.

“I have matured on stage and I am hungry still to be the best on stage and in my performances,” Borneo said with a broad smile, animating his features.

He was followed closely by the other runaway crossover hit – “Ramsingh Sharma” by Omardath Maharaj, with two points separating the top artistes.

Thirty-three artistes performed last Saturday at LIV Nightlife in La Romaine, at what was an essential scale back of the semi-final round. Smaller budgets by corporate TT have resulted in cutbacks by sponsors and this has forced producers to find innovative ways to deliver this major annual event. Sponsors who came forward include NLCB, 103FM, USHARE Caribbean, Firepower Fireworks, Southex, and the Ministry of Community Development, Culture & The Arts.

Nine artistes will move forward to compete against the defending champion, KI Persad on February 11, at Skinner Park, San Fernando.

The ‘World’s Ultimate Chutney Challenge’ will also be featured at the grand final with ten top artistes competing with some of the biggest hits in the history of chutney music.

Finalists for the Chutney Soca Monarch are:
1. Michael Ramroop aka Showtime
2. Ravi B
3. Rick Ramoutar
4. Rikki Jai
5. Nishard Mayrhoo
6. Omardath Maharaj
7. Rooplal G
8. Lalchan Babwah (Hunter)
9. Shivan R & Slammer Cutter

Finalist in the The World’s Ultimate Chutney Challenge
1. Omardath Maharaj – “Ring Bang”
2. Drupatee – “Mr Bissessar”
3. Rikki Jai – “Mor Tor”
4. Sam Boodram – “Lalana Koosie”
5. Terry Gajraj – “Guyana Baboo”
6. Rasika Dindial – “Maticoor Night”
7. Rakesh Yankeran – “Mousie”
8. Devanand Gattoo – “Payalia”
9. Chris Garcia – “Chutney Bacchanal”
10. Adesh Samaroo – “Rajin”

The list is endless, but for purposes of today’s feature, I’d leave it there for now. Love is highly recommended as a solution for repairing broken homes and communities.

As the elders uttered centuries ago, there is a trick in every trade and certainly in understanding love, it is no different.

To ensuring that one has the correct recipe for love, first start with self-love; loving yourself and also accepting the you that you see in the mirror is the start of a successful journey of love.

If you’re not focused, some distractions can negatively affect your trek up the hill of love.

For instance, continuously seeking validation on your general outlook and inner beauty is a major obstruction which hinders your psyche from functioning smoothly.

Waiting to be loved is indeed a recipe for disaster, as if love does not flow your way first, this would be observed by others and would affect the way in which they communicate with you.

Seeking validation, acceptance, recognition and acknowledgement from others is a sign of weakness, that requires urgent introspection and remedial action.

It means that you are abdicating your responsibility of loving yourself, and resting it in the hands of others, who may not know or even care about you.

Love is manifested in many forms; there are particular types of love for your family members, your children, your friends and your significant other.

Because of the way humankind has been socialised and wired from creation, some individuals do not realise that they are seeking love from others through their actions.

The key is being aware at all times of the things that are said as well as actions that appear to seek validation.

Loving yourself is at the very core of self-respect and self-empowerment.

Once you have crossed this hurdle, the rest of your love journey is simple! Love produces high levels of energy that allow people to be kind to each other, and to reach out to each other with words of generosity and goodwill.

Love has the power to positively transform homes, communities, societies, and by extension the entire world.

It also has the ability to positively impact a world where people would no longer be interested in laying their fears and insecurities at the feet of others hoping to receive love in return, because there would be an abundance of self-love.

Love represents who you are and your state of being; if this is non-existent, more than likely, fear and other negative emotions step in.

Sandrine Rattan is a communications/ branding consultant, author and president of the International Women’s Resource Network (IWRN) Contact: thecorporatesuitett@gmail.

com or intlwomensresourcenetwork@ gmail.com

Folliculitis decalvans (FD) is categorised as a primary cicatrical alopecia that damages the hair follicles, causing permanent hair loss.

According to studies, FD accounts 11 per cent of primary cicatrical alopecia, affecting young to middle- aged adults, particularly among males. The cause is still unknown, but reports support the connection of staphylococcus aureus in the progression of the disease.

Since this is considered an infection, you can expect pustules around the affected area of your head apart from the classic sign of redness and scarring. Pustules are small bumps that contain pus or fluid.

Any region of your body that has hair may be affected.

The hair loss usually starts as oval patches with pustules surrounding the follicles. Several hairs appear to come out of a single follicle opening, causing your scalp to look like a toothbrush.

When the follicles are fully destroyed, your hair will start to shed off leaving behind a scar.

Since this is a chronic condition, you may experience intermittent flares. But what is crucial for you to do is to observe proper hygiene, even without the flare-up episodes, considering your scalp is already infected.

You have to make sure that you only use hair and scalp products that are recommended by your trichologist or a physician. Apart from the prescribed topical medicines and/ or shampoo, always see to it that you do not touch the area especially with dirty hands.

Scratching the area with unwashed hands may cause cross contamination of bacteria to other parts of your scalp.

And the least thing that you would want to happen is for this type of scarring to spread throughout your scalp.

Aside from hygiene that you can always maintain even without medical supervision, what you really need is to comply with the therapeutic regimen prescribed by your trichologist as well as the regime prescribed by your physician. You have to remember that since this involves bacteria, you should not self-medicate with any antimicrobial medicine out there.

You should also follow the frequency of the antibiotic dosage. If you try to stop midway, you might develop bacterial resistance towards this particular drug. And the worst thing that can happen in case of bacterial resistance is the exacerbation of your condition, and you will be given a more potent drug.

Another thing that you have to observe is to keep the area clean and dry. Moisture is a conducive environment for microbial growth.

These are only a few of the essential points about FD.

But the bottom line is – you should always observe proper hygiene and follow this mantra, “if in doubt, wash your hands.” Boosting your immune system can also help in your scalp’s recovery, especially in those areas with follicles that are not yet damaged. Apart from regular Vitamin C intake, eating the right kind of food as well as keeping your body hydrated helps a lot in strengthening your body’s resistance.

All these you can do, but it’s still best if you have your hair and scalp checked by the experts.

Germaine Williams-Beckles is a doctor of trichology (DT T?CT), nutrition consultant (NC), motivational speaker, coach, mentor, trichologist, Rayogee Wellness Lifestyle, Woodbrook, germainewilliamsbeckles.

com or 627-4659.

He is the fourth person in his family to be shot and killed. In 2003, his father Anthony Hospedales was shot and killed at the family’s home. Collins was wounded in the gun attack. A few years later his uncle Lawrence Hospedales and a cousin, George Collins, fell victim to gun violence.

Collins (Lyndon) was seated on a chair in a garage writing a text message on his mobile phone at the Penal Rock Road home of a relative when the killing occurred. He leaves to mourn his two daughters Kianna, 11 and Kayla nine.

Yesterday, grieving relatives said the shooter was a “total stranger” who didn’t blink an eyelid when he dipped into his pants waist, whipped out the gun and shot Collins before running off. He sent those who were liming with him in the garage scampering to safety.

The incident took place close to a church.

“This is where we reach,” said the distraught relative who asked not to be identified. “Imagine if you and someone fall out, that person hiring a man to kill you on their behalf.

You and the killer never had nothing, but he will do it because he only studying the money.” Newsday was told that Collins ignored the man who had walked into the yard as he did not know him and just continued on his phone.

Collins’ killer was described as a man in his late 20’s, with a smooth face, of slim built about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. He wore a white T-shirt, blue three-quarter jeans, a black baseball cap and white Nike Air Force sneakers.

A police report said that a 26-year-old security officer was with Collins moments before he was killed. The officer told police that while running to safety when she saw the killer pull out a gun, she heard several loud explosions.

When she returned a short while later, she found Collins to be unresponsive.

Kathleen Hospedales said her nephew was not known to be involved in criminal activities and was the owner of two cellular phone outlets in Penal and Chaguanas.

“This killing shock everybody,” Hospedales told Newsday. “Only God alone could fix this crime situation in this country because it real bad. Why would somebody want him dead?” However another male relative had a strong message for Collins’ killer.

He said, “For the life that you take, just remember one day your day will come and it will be worse than what you do to Lyndon Collins.”

The three were detained at the Central Police Station over the weekend and questioned by officers of the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit and Special Branch about why they were enquiring about the whereabouts of the President.

Newsday understands that after being interviewed, investigators ordered that the trio be released pending further investigations.

The men said they had no intentions of issuing any threat to Carmona and that they had no ill intention towards him.

On Friday afternoon, a caretaker at the Blanchisseuse residence reported to police that the men arrived in a black vehicle and began asking questions about when next the President will there.

Newsday understands that after the men left, the caretaker became concerned and alerted the police who organised a roadblock at Maracas Bay and the men were detained.

Last Sunday, a male caller telephoned the E999 Command Centre and threatened to kill the president and “all of them”.

The matter was reported to the Special Branch and police officers took the necessary steps to increase the security in and around the President and members of his family.

Even Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon said that the threat was being taken seriously and additional security arrangements had been put in place.

Simms of Rampersad Trace, Rochard Road, Penal was last seen on Saturday leaving a Penal restaurant in the company of a man who, investigators say, was known to her and who, according to reports, had promised to find her a job. Relatives said Simms was laid off as a waitress two weeks ago and they believe she knew the man from his visits to the restaurant as he was a regular customer.

“He had promised to help her get a job and she left home saying she was going to meet him,” her worried aunt, Jennifer Hamid, told Newsday.

When Simms did not return home on Saturday, loved ones became worried and on Sunday reported her missing to officers at the Penal Police Station. The surveillance camera at the eating establishment has since confirmed that Simms met the man and spent time with him. They were also captured leaving the restaurant together just around one o’clock on Saturday afternoon.

Hamid said yesterday, “He gave up himself to the police but we still can’t find my niece.” Simms was last seen dressed in a maroon coloured top, black pants and a pair of slippers.

Anyone with information can contact the Anti Kidnapping Squad, Penal Police Station or the nearest police station.