Purifimax promises to wash the liver, improve digestion, balance metabolism, clean toxins in the blood and facilitate weight loss. It comes in a reassuring white and blue bottle of 60 pills for about 500 pesos. But starting February 17, Purifimax and other miracle products will no longer be able to make such claims in their marketing. According to a new law signed by President Felipe Calderon, the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) will have the power to shut down any advertising campaign for products making such sensational claims.

New absentee voting laws are in effect for the 2012 elections in the United States. Voters will no longer automatically receive ballots based on a previous absentee ballot request.

During the first week of January, Mexican bakeries and grocery outlets will be stocked with rosca de reyes, a crown-shaped lightly sweetened bread decorated with jewel-like candied fruits that is the traditional Kings Day holiday treat.

Before the loaves go in the oven, the baker stuffs one or more tiny baby dolls into the raw dough. The infant figures symbolize hiding of the Christ Child for protection from the bloodthirsty King Herod.

Families and friends customarily gather on January 6 to share a rosca, on the understanding that anyone who cuts a slice studded with a doll will be designated as a godparent of the Baby Jesus and by extension, host for a traditional Dia de la Candelaria (Candlemas) tamale feast to be held on February 2 as the holiday season finale.

A New Year. As that fateful moment rolls across the globe from Kiribati to American Samoa a multitudinous collection of traditions dot the human landscape. Fireworks burn sulfur and charcoal across the skies, the ball drops in Times Square, “The Blue Danube” pours through the streets of Vienna, and 108 strikes ring from the gongs of Buddhist temples across Japan. People seize on the changing of that last little number in the date to update themselves, to refresh their goals and molt the accumulation of misdeeds, heartache, apprehension, and plain old ill luck. Latin people are especially fond of a number of superstitions to birth an auspicious new year, Mexicans being no exception.