Xinhua world news summary at 0830 GMT, Jan. 12

MEXICO CITY -- Ministers from Canada, Mexico and the United States will hold a special meeting to tackle some of the toughest issues in negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, a top private-sector adviser to the Mexican government said Thursday.

"There will be a ministerial meeting to review the toughest matters, to which we hope to be able to find solutions," Juan Pablo Castanon, president of the Business Coordinating Council, told reporters. (Mexico-NAFTA-Negotiation)

- - - -

WASHINGTON -- The United States is planning to reimpose sanctions on Iran, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday, ahead of President Donald Trump's decision on whether to extend sanctions relief on Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal.

"I am expecting new sanctions on Iran. We continue to look at them. We've rolled them out," Mnuchin told reporters at a White House briefing Thursday afternoon. (US-Iran-Sanctions)

- - - -

NEW DELHI -- Troops of India and Pakistan Friday exchanged heavy fire and targeted each other's positions on Line of Control (LoC), dividing Kashmir, officials said.

The two sides exchanged fire on LoC in Kamalkote sector of frontier Uri town, about 117 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. (India-Pakistan-LoC)

- - - -

NEW DELHI -- India on Friday successfully launched 31 satellites on a single mission from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota, officials said.

The satellites, including the country's 100th satellite Cartosat (earth observation satellite), were launched by state-owned Indian Space Research Organization aboard its trusted workhorse Polar Launch Satellite Vehicle at 9.28 a.m. local time (0358 GMT). (India-Space Satellites) Enditem