This week saw another tragic incident for Malaysia Airlines, asflight MH17 appears to have been shot down over the Ukraine.Additionally, the Senate passed its version of TRIA, while theHouse seems to be set for a longer battle on the issue.

Meanwhile, cyber remains a hot topic for the industry,businesses and regulators alike, and GM has remained in the news aslegislators continue to look into the company's massive autorecalls.

Below and on the following pages, see what industry leaders,lawmakers and others had to say about the biggest insurance storiesof the week.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of a TRIA extension by a 93-4vote yesterday, and the bill includes legislation creating the National Association ofRegistered Agents and Brokers (NARAB). The bill now goes to theHouse, where NARAB seems to have support, although the terms of aTRIA extension are another story.

Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, rankingminority member of the Senate Banking Committee, said, regardingNARAB: “The idea for NARAB is now 14 years old,” Sen. MikeCrapo, R-Idaho, ranking minority member of the Senate BankingCommittee, said on thWe've been working on it literally for thatlong, and I'm hoping that in this legislation today we can get itacross the finish line.”

While a TRIA extension sailed through the Senate, the issue ismore controversial in the House.

A bill passed by the House Financial Services Committee thatwould essentially phase out the program after five years except forNCBR attacks is failing to win wider support in the House. Urbanand moderate Republicans, such as Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., haveopposed the bill, along with Democrats.

Still, conservative House members, while under pressure fromother House representatives as well as the Senate to accept aversion closer to the Senate's, appear readyto dig in and fight it out. They have indicated Congresswill have to accept a slimmed-down version of the bill this year,no bill at all, or an eight-month extension of the program thatwould be taken up next year by what they foresee as a Congresswhere both the House and Senate are controlled byRepublicans.

The push for a slimmed-down TRIA is beingchampioned by Reps. Jeb Hensarling and RandyNeugebauer, both R-Texas.

A Neugebauer spokesman said, “Essentially it lookslike TRIA's not going to be considered in July.” He added, “Thenarrative that's being driven is everyone's opposed to our bill andopposed to the process moving forward. That couldn't be furtherfrom the truth. We received a tremendous amount of support fromstakeholders. …Perhaps they haven't been as vocal.”

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was apparentlyshot down over Ukraine on Thursday. As Russia and the Ukraine argueover which side was responsible, Bloomberg reports that Allianz is the lead reinsurer for aviation hulland liability coverage.

Experts with knowledge of the aviation industry say if the plane wasindeed shot down, hull loss would be paid by a war-risk policyseparate from the standard hull coverage.

Allianz released a statement regarding theincident: “As leading reinsurer of Malaysia Airlines foraviation hull and liability coverage, Allianz Global Corporate& Specialty stands by to support our client as fully andquickly as possible. It is much too early to comment on reports ofthis tragic incident while details are still being confirmed,except to extend our deepest sympathy to all those affected by thiscrash.”

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) earlythis week said it will moveforward with a review of its corporate governance policiesand would be hiring an outside consultant to assist with theprocess.

The group's Governance Review Task Force authorized the action,and said the review will include a “broad review of the NAIC'sorganizational structure, committee processes and externalengagements.”

The move follows infighting at the NAIC. In a December2013 letter, Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Tom Leonardiraised a number of governance issues and said the NAIC has a“clumsy, one-sided and fraught process of decision-making.”

Regarding the reviewprocess, Adam Hamm, NAIC President and NorthDakota Insurance Commissioner, said, “As in past reviews ofNAIC governance, we hope the consultant can assist us infacilitating a thorough evaluation and identifying best practicesfor us to consider,”

As Congress again presses GM over its massive recalls, GM'sgeneral counsel MichaelMillikin acknowledges lawyersfor the company made mistakes. GM has recalled almost 29 millionvehicles in the U.S., passing Ford Motor's recordin a single calendar year of 23.3 million, according toBloomberg.

U.S. recalls for all manufacturers stands at 37.5 million,already topping 2004's record of 30.8 million.

In written testimony to the Senate Commerce, Science andTransportation subcommittee, Millikin said, “We hadlawyers at GM who didn't do their jobs; didn't do what was expectedof them. Those lawyers are no longer with thecompany.”

Commercial-insurance buyers for international construction andsome property and casualty coverages are seeing sizable ratereductions through the first half of 2014, thanks to overcapacityin the marketplace.

A Willis Group Holdings report says benignloss activity and a softening global reinsurance marketthat is having a trickle-down effect in the primary market arepressuring rates.

For international construction, Willis says a reduction inconstruction projects in many parts of the world has intensifiedcompetition. Additionally, insurers are not withdrawing from themarket, leaving capacity at an all-time high, creating anenvironment for more favorable rates for buyers.

The international P&C insurance market is also seeing ininflux of capital and pressure on rates.

James Nicholson, head of Broking andIndustry Practice Groups for Construction, Property and Casualty atWillis “Our view is that soft-market conditions arelikely to continue without necessarily threatening theprofitability and solvency of carriers, provided that they activelymanage their portfolios. For their part, corporate-insurance buyerscan achieve substantially better than average pricing through theprovision of good underwriting data, the use of analytics to drivepricing and through strong relationships with carriers. The outlooktherefore remains very favorable for corporate buyers and moreparticularly for the well-informed.”

Security breaches exposing consumers' personal information arebecoming largerand increasingly frequent in New York, costing businessesmore than $1.37 billion last year, the state attorney general'soffice said.

A report this week from New York AttorneyGeneral Eric Schneiderman indicated databreaches in the state more than tripled from 2006 to 2013, withalmost 5,000 breaches reported to the office by businesses,nonprofits and government entities during thattime.

Schneiderman said, “Our expansive look at databreaches found that millions of New Yorkers have been exposedwithout their knowledge or consent.” He said his office will take a“collaborative approach to address the complex problems surroundingdata security.”