Reuters

By Nivedita Balu

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian lender National Bank's expansion from east to west, rather than following Canada's big banks south of the border, could help secure growth, analysts and investors said.

The Quebec-based bank's C$5 billion ($3.65 billion) deal to buy Alberta's Canadian Western Bank, announced on Tuesday, surprised Canada's highly concentrated sector where consolidation has included No.1 lender Royal Bank of... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is set to vote against Tesla CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion compensation package, the largest U.S. pension fund's CEO said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

(Reuters) - Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has acquired U.S. cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the companies said on Wednesday, a move that will give the studio control over movie distribution.

The movie theater chain will be managed under SPE's newly established division Sony Pictures Experiences, which will be headed by Alamo Drafthouse's Michael Kustermann. He will remain the chief executive of the firm.

The companies did not... (continue reading...)

By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) - Armenia will leave a Russia-led security bloc, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed on Wednesday for the first time, accusing members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation of having planned a war against his country with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan, who has tried to cultivate closer ties with the United States and European Union, said in March that Armenia, traditionally a close Russian ally, would... (continue reading...)

By David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States believes China's primary focus currently is its economy and that it is determined to work to stabilize bilateral relations with the United States, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Wednesday.

Campbell told Washington's Stimson Center think tank China needed to reassure investors and others that it has a plan for its economy and would not be... (continue reading...)