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Leading health experts from around the world have been meeting at the World Health Organizations Geneva headquarters to assess the current level of knowledge about the new COVID-19 disease, identify gaps and work together to accelerate and fund priority research needed to help stop this outbreak and prepare for any future outbreaks.

The 2-day forum was convened in line with the WHO R&D Blueprint a strategy for developing drugs and vaccines before epidemics, and accelerating research and development while they are occurring.

This outbreak is a test of solidarity -- political, financial and scientific. We need to come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders, ensure that we have the resources necessary to bring this outbreak to an end and bring our best science to the forefront to find shared answers to shared problems. Research is an integral part of the outbreak response, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. I appreciate the positive response of the research community to join us at short notice and come up with concrete plans and commitment to work together.

The meeting, hosted in collaboration with GloPID-R (the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness) brought together major research funders and over 300 scientists and researchers from a large variety of disciplines. They discussed all aspects of the outbreak and ways to control it including:

This meeting allowed us to identify the urgent priorities for research. As a group of funders we will continue to mobilize, coordinate and align our funding to enable the research needed to tackle this crisis and stop the outbreak, in partnership with WHO, said Professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah, chair of GloPID-R. Equitable access making sure we share data and reach those most in need, in particular those in lower and middle-income countries, is fundamental to this work which must be guided by ethical considerations at all times.

During the meeting, the more than 300 scientists and researchers participating both in person and virtually agreed on a set of global research priorities. They also outlined mechanisms for continuing scientific interactions and collaborations beyond the meeting which will be coordinated and facilitated by WHO. They worked with research funders to determine how necessary resources can be mobilized so that critical research can start immediately.

The deliberations will form the basis of a research and innovation roadmap charting all the research needed and this will be used by researchers and funders to accelerate the research response.

GloPID-R is a global alliance of international research funding organizations investing in preparedness and response to epidemics.

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12 February 2020 News release World experts and funders set priorities for COVID-19 research - World Health Organization

Democratic National CommitteeChair Tom Perez met privately on Tuesday with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to hear concerns over the nominating process from the partys left flank. The conversation came in the wake of progressive frustration over the Iowa Democratic Partys handling of the caucuses last week in which Sen. Bernie Sanders topped former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, but a series of snafus prolonged and frustrated the process, obfuscated the results, and left Buttigieg claiming a two-delegate victory.

Perez, according to people in the room, brought up the debacle himself, criticizing the IDP foritshandling of the caucus, promising the limited recanvass Sanders has called for would be carried out effectively and professionally. Last week, Perez had attempted to take belated control of the situation at one point, he even called for a recanvass of the results but was rebuffed by Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price, who said Perez didnt have the authority to do so.

What happened last week was completely unacceptable, Perez told The Intercept in a statement. We are all in this together. We succeed together, and we all endure challenges together. Weve been successful in electing Democrats up and down the ballot in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and I think were going to win this presidential election in 2020. Thats our sweet spot, and we are building the organizational structure needed to get there. And I think we have to have a conversation, and Ive said this more than once, about the issue of primaries versus caucuses.

The role of American oligarch Mike Bloomberg in the race also came up in the meeting. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., asked Perez what procedures he had in place to monitor conflicts of interest for the officials he names to key Democratic National Convention committees. Tlaib noted that the former New York City mayor had two paid surrogates on the DNCs rules committee. The DNC had previously said the committee members had no say over a recent decision to change the rules for qualifying for Democratic debates a rules change that would allow Bloomberg to participate. Perez did not spell out any particular conflict of interest provision the DNC uses, but instead said that he also named Larry Cohen, a supporter of Bernie Sanders, to a committee.

Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., told Perez they were frustrated by reports that some DNC members were considering changing the rules around superdelegates to allow them to vote in the first round at the convention, a clear effort to undermine a progressive candidate.Perez was emphatic that no such rules change would be made, arguing that the process had been allowed to play out through internal committees and that process would be respected. We made these reforms, we did it in a very inclusive way, we voted, and we are implementing them. Period. End of story, Perez told The Intercept, reflecting what he told the CPC.(Lee and Lawrence both endorsed Sen. Kamala Harris for president.)

Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Mark Pocan, and Reps. Katherine Clark, Yvette Clarke, and Sheila Jackson Lee attended the meeting as well, sources said, though Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Vice Chair Ro Khanna, D-Calif., were not there.

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DNC Chair Tom Perez Gets Earful From Progressive Caucus - The Intercept

The University of South Florida (USF) has appointed J. Michael (Mike) McConnell, retired U.S. Navy vice admiral and former director of the National Security Agency (NSA), as executive director of Cyber Florida. McConnell brings an extensive military and intelligence background that will help further Cyber Floridas mission of positioning the state as a national leader in cybersecurity.

Cyber Florida is a state-funded organization hosted at USF that works with all 12 public universities in Florida, as well as private industry, government and the military to build partnerships and develop programs that grow and strengthen Floridas cybersecurity industry.

Mike is one of the leading voices in cybersecurity nationally, and I have no doubt that his vast experience and relationships with key policymakers will be a tremendous asset to Cyber Floridas continued progress, which will benefit future generations of Floridians, USF President Steven C. Currall said.

McConnells distinguished career spans over 50 years, focused on international and foreign intelligence issues, including 29 years as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer. In 2007, he became the second U.S. Director of National Intelligence, serving under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. From 1992 to 1996, he served as NSA director. McConnell has received the nations highest award for service in the U.S. intelligence community from both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Hes also been vice chairman of Booz Allen Hamilton, a management and information technology consulting firm.

McConnell holds a masters degree in public administration from George Washington University and a bachelors degree in economics from Furman University. He is a graduate of the National Defense University and the National Defense Intelligence College, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has been awarded four honorary doctorate degrees including one from USF.

McConnell is already deeply familiar with Cyber Floridas mission and goals, having served as chair of Cyber Floridas Board of Advisors since 2015. In his new role, McConnell will divide his time between Tampa and Washington, D.C. In the nations capital, McConnell will leverage his relationships with the national security, homeland security, law enforcement, intelligence and business communities to identify strategic opportunities for them to work more closely with Cyber Florida.

I am honored to lead Cyber Florida and build on the organizations remarkable success in recent years, McConnell said. Through education and problem-solving research, we can address the critical need to train a more skilled cybersecurity workforce and create new technologies to protect our nations infrastructure.

Since its founding in 2014, Cyber Florida has implemented numerous initiatives across the state, including helping to establish nearly 50 cybersecurity degree or certificate programs, providing seed funding for nearly 75 research projects, participating in hundreds of events or presentations to raise cyber awareness and publishing books for public guidance. Cyber Floridas current director, Sri Sridharan, has announced plans to retire, effective June 30.

McConnells appointment is effective from February 17.

Read more at USF

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Former NSA Director to Lead Cyber Florida at the University of South Florida - HSToday

The stock now we are analyzing at is National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) which is now in overbought queue as the Relative Strength Index has been observed at 73.3. As commonly stock is overbought when RSI goes above 70 (look further in the section of technical indicators).

There are a lot of factors to determine whether trading of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) stock is going to end in profit or not but one of the most commonly known important factors has remained the overbought and oversold conditions. So, identifying oversold and overbought stocks is an important skill for every investor or trader. Commonly, traders use technical indicators for oversold and overbought stocks while investors use fundamental factors. Most common Technical indicator that is used to identify overbought and oversold stocks is the Relative Strength Index or called RSI. While most common fundamental indicator that Investors cognize to identify overbought and oversold stocks is P/E Ratio.

How much NSA Stocks is Volatile?

Now we will look for the boiling points and excitability of NSA stock. Last weeks volatility stood at 1.65% and last months volatility marked at 1.51%. Volatility of a stock indicates how tightly the price of a stock is constellated around the mean or moving average. A Stocks volatility is generally associated with investment risk; however, traders can also use it to lock in superior returns. Volatility is also measured by ATR which is an exponential moving average (14-days) of the True Ranges. The stocks ATR value pointed at 0.55.

At this moment, Stocks beta measure is 0.3. Beta is also one of the most popular indicators to measure risk of stock trading. It is a measure of a stocks volatility in relation to the market. Analysts also use it often when they need to determine risk profile of a stock. If beta is higher than 1 then risk is higher and if beta is lower than 1, then risk will be low.

Now here, we will be looking at the trend of NSA stocks performance for different time intervals in order to evaluate the companys share value step by step.

National Storage Affiliates Trust Stock Performance:

Traders shown interest in National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) as it recorded negotiations of 284168 shares while stock maintained an average volume of 356.05K shares. It has a market capitalization of $2.16B. NSA stock recognized return of 4.50% over last weekly trading activity and showed performance of 7.08% over monthly period. Shares are now at 12.81% for the quarter and 13.26% for the last six months. The company is driving a 24.78% of return over the course of past one year and is now with performance of 8.45% so far this year. National Storage Affiliates Trust traded with move of 1.39% at $36.46 per share on Tuesday trading session. Shares of company positioned at 0.83% from its 52-week high price while it has been noted 34.24% away from low price over the last 52-weeks.

National Storage Affiliates Trust Stock Look at Technical Side:

Most commonly used indicator to identify overbought and oversold conditions is Relative Strength Index (RSI). RSI is actually a range bound oscillator which is scaled mainly from 0 to 100. RSI from 30 to 70 are considered as a normal state but a RSI indicates the oversold situation when it comes below 30 and If RSI of a stock goes above 70 then it indicates the overbought situation. So as Currently Relative Strength Index (RSI-14) reading of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) stock is 73.3, technically its an overbought stock.

Though, occasionally stocks can indicate an opposite short-term movement then it becomes important to look for trades in direction of a bigger trend. Like when bigger trend of prices stayed down when RSI was over 70 and bigger trend of stock price stayed up while RSI is below 30 then a 14-day RSI can be considered as a short-term indicator. So, in that situation a Simple Moving Average (SMA) can be crucial to look.

Simple Moving Average calculated as an average of the last N-periods (20-Day, 50-Day, 200-Day). A Simple Moving Average is one of the most flexible as well as most-commonly used technical analysis indicators. It is highly popular among traders, mostly because of its simplicity. It works best in a trending environment. Any type of moving average can be used to generate buy or sell signals and this process is very simple. National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) stock price is above from its 20 days moving average with 4.37% and trading above from 50 days moving average with 7.14%. The stock price is performing along above from its 200 days moving average with 13.20%.

NSA Stock Under Profitability Spotlight

Net profit margin of the company is -7.30% that shows how much the company is profiting by every dollar of sales. Operating Margin is noted at 32.10%.

Return on Assets (ROA) shows that how much the company is profitable as compared to its total assets which is -0.90% for stock. On the other hand, Return on Equity (ROE) is -3.80%. ROE actually measures financial performance and could be thought of as the return on net assets. It is considered a measure of how effectively management is using a companys assets to create profits. Return on Investment (ROI) is 5.00%. ROI measures the efficiency of investments. It helps to directly evaluate the amount of return on a specific investment, relative to the total investments cost.

Forward price to earnings ratio of 87.02.

Analysts Estimation:

Now at last but not the least, we will review what the Analysts are buzzing about this Stock. Looking for Analysts opinion is also important to understand where the stock is heading. Analyst has some hope that stock may be reaching the Target Price value of $34.88 in coming one year period. The Target Price expected by analysts that is achievable in short term period (1 year). Analysts Mean Recommendation of the stock is now at 2.3 (1.0 Strong Buy, 2.0 Buy, 3.0 Hold, 4.0 Sell, 5.0 Strong Sell). EPS growth for the next year is expected to be 59.92% and projected to gain growth of 391.40% for this year. Earnings per share EPS is one of the most important variables in determining a shares intrinsic value. EPS (ttm) is reported at -0.47. Analysts have some long term expectations that stock could hit EPS growth of 11.00% in next 5 years period while EPS growth seen at 34.10% for past 5 years period.

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National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) overbought Stock to Bite? We have reviewed it - News Welcome

The latest Senate report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, released Feb. 6, contained several broad recommendations for how the government can improve effectiveness in securing American elections.

While the Senate Select Committee on Intelligences third volume lists seven recommendations for correcting shortfalls made by the Obama administration in responding to Russian election interference, the federal government has already made progress in several of the recommended areas since the committee started its report.

The committee recommends that the executive branch bolster partnerships with countries considered near abroad to Russia. The bipartisan report states that Russia has been using these countries as a laboratory for perfecting information and cyber warfare. For example, in the military conflict between Ukraine and Russian, Russian-backed hackers have targeted the government and shut down the countrys power grid.

Expanding partnerships with such countries will help to prepare defenses for the eventual expansion of interference techniques targeting the West," the report read.

U.S. Cyber Command has taken similar measures in recent years, partnering with the Montenegrin government for the last two years to search for malicious actors in networks in the lead up to both nations elections in 2020. The U.S. Secret Service also engages with foreign states on cybersecurity issues, like in 2017 when it trained local officials in Estonia.

Having U.S. cyber personnel near the Russian cyber hot spots will help the United States learn more about Russian behavior. Tom Kellermann, a former commissioner on the Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th President of the United States, said that partnerships will help the United States determine the root cause of Russian intrusions.

How did they get in in the first place and how did they stay in? How did they maintain persistence?" said Kellermann, now head of cybersecurity strategy at VMware. These are the critical lessons we should learn from assisting our allies in order to protect our democracy."

The committee also recommended that the United States lead the way on establishing international cyber norms, writing that U.S. leadership is needed to balance any formalized international agreement on acceptable uses of cyber capabilities.

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This is another area where the U.S. government has already made progress. At the United Nations, the United States has worked to establish international cyber norms and proposed creating a group to study how to enforce cyber norms, all while butting heads with the Russian and Chinese representatives.

According to Chris Painter, a former top cyber official at the Department of State, while the United States has led on establishing some norms, like critical infrastructure shouldnt be targeted outside of wartime, there is still outstanding work to be done on enforcing those norms.

We have to make sure that those norms are just not paper tigers, Painter said. They have to be accepted by countries around the world and there has to be accountability when people break them."

Another recommendation from the committee suggests that credible information about foreign information or cyber operations be shared as broadly as appropriate within government, Congress and, when appropriate, private-sector partners. The committee also adds that the federal government must have substantive and timely outreach with state and local governments when election infrastructure is targeted.

The federal government has made strides in this area, particularly with its outreach to state and local governments, an effort spearheaded by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security. Top election officials in states have security clearances to gain access to more threat intelligence and CISA frequently holds phone calls with state operators of critical infrastructure, which includes election officials.

Within the intelligence community, NSAs new Cybersecurity Directorate is also making an effort to share contextualized threat intelligence with the defense industrial base.

As part of the recommendation, the committee also said that feds needed to create a mechanism for notifying the public of operations.

Delaying the release of information allows inaccurate narratives to spread, which makes the task of informing the public significantly harder, the committee wrote.

Both the IC and civilian government have partnered together to establish a process for public notification of cyberthreats. Back in November, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, NSA, DHS, State, CIA, NSA and FBI agreed to a framework in which they would discuss potentially exposing an interference operation after convening leaders from all the agencies.

The committees other recommendations were that the executive branch prepare for the next attack, integrate responses to cyber incidents, prioritize collection on information warfare, and clarification of roles and authorities within the IC.

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The progress the government has made on election security - fifthdomain.com