Arnulfo Castorena takes long, confident strokes, pulling himself across the blue width of the pool with his arm. It’s another in an endless series of training days stretching back 17 years. Castorena hopes to break his own world record for the 50 meter breaststroke—56.27 seconds—in this coming Paralympic Games, to be held this August 29 to September 9 in London, after the Summer Olympic Games.

Among fanfares of sparks and music, President Felipe Calderon January 7 inaugurated the country’s new bicentennial monument, Estela de Luz, in Mexico City.

Has the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) really changed from its authoritarian past or is it just adopting young, handsome faces to mask its true visage?

Stuart Andrews waves his printout in front of the waiter at California Wings at the corner of Manuel Acuna and Aztecas in Guadalajara. The name leaves no doubt as to the American-style sports bar perched over the edge of this trendy shopping plaza.

December 21, 2012. Doomsday. You may have heard this year’s winter solstice will coincide with an apocalypse forewarned by the ancient Mayan calendar, but this infamous “prophecy” is simply a misinterpretation of the pre-Columbian civilization’s history and culture.

Internationally, it was a massive year for news: the Arab Spring, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the death of Osama Bin Laden, the massacre in Norway and, oh yes, the lavish marriage of two rich folks in England.

The United States had its fair share of big stories too: the Joplin tornado, Occupy Wall Street, the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, the Penn State sex abuse scandal and – it goes without saying – Washington gridlock.

South of the border in Mexico, President Felipe Calderon continued his policy designed to grind down the nation’s powerful drug cartels, despite many calls for him to scale back military operations.  The daily death toll  occupied the headlines most days, along with the occasional arrest of a drug kingpin.  Here’s a brief selection of some of the stories making headlines in this newspaper in Guadalajara, the Lake Chapala area and the rest of the nation during the past 12 months.