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March 23 (Reuters) - The United States and Canada have reached a deal that would allow for the closure of an unofficial border crossing between New York state and the province of Quebec, but the final details still need to be worked out, a Canadian government source familiar with the talks told Reuters.

OTTAWA, March 24 (Reuters) - The United States and Canada pledged to work together on several issues, including migration, defense and security, the two countries said on Friday after a meeting between U.S.
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

WARSAW, March 27 (Reuters) - Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from the 2024 Olympics in Paris unless Moscow pulls its forces out of Ukraine, according to Poland, Britain and the Baltic states, despite the IOC saying it plans to let them compete as neutrals.

OTTAWA, March 24 (Reuters) - The United States and Canada must together build a North American market on everything from semiconductors to solar panel batteries, in the face of growing competition, including from an "increasingly assertive China," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.

"While the IOC has made no final decisions yet, we strongly urge it to reconsider its plans and return to the original well-proven stance supported by the international community," the Polish statement said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sanctioned Russia and Belarus after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but is now reluctant to exclude their athletes from the Olympics entirely for fear of a return to the boycotts of the Cold War era.

March 23 (Reuters) - The United States has designated one former and two current Paraguayan officials for what Washington said was their involvement in "significant corruption," making the officials and their families ineligible for entry into the North American country.

"We strongly believe that now is not the time to consider the opening up of a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to the Olympic Games in any status," the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement issued jointly with Britain, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The U.S.
action targets former director of the Paraguayan Civil Aviation Authority, Edgar Melgarejo, current member of the Paraguayan Panel for the Discipline of Judges and Prosecutors, Jorge Bogarin, and current Court Clerk Vicente Ferreira, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement.

Canada and the United States also acknowledged "the serious long-term challenge to the international order posed by the People's Republic of China, including disruptive actions such as economic coercion, non-market policies and practices, and human rights abuses," the two countries said in a joint statement.