Lebanon is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus, the General Security Directorate said Friday. The decision came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged a border crossing in northern Lebanon just days after it was reopened. Separately, Jordan`s interior minister said the Naseeb border crossing with Syria had been closed because of the security situation on the Syrian side.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic announced Friday that they confiscated nearly 9.5 tons of cocaine, the largest drug seizure in the country`s history. The $250 million worth of drugs were found nestled inside a banana shipment that arrived at the Caucedo port in the capital of Santo Domingo, the country`s most important seaport. The shipment had been sent from Guatemala and was destined for Belgium, said Carlos Devers, spokesman for the Dominican Republic`s Anti-Drug Agency.

The Princess of Wales took another step Friday in her return to public life following cancer treatment, in hosting her annual Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey. Dressed in a festive red coat featuring a large black bow on the collar and black buttons, the princess, often referred to simply as Kate, arrived with her husband Prince William and their three children.

An increase in the number of earthquakes under a volcano near Alaska`s largest city this year has geologists paying attention. Mount Spurr, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, last erupted in 1992, spewing an ash cloud nearly 12 miles (19 kilometers) into the air, prompting flights to be canceled and people to don masks. Another eruption at the 11,100-foot (3,383-meter) stratovolcano could be severely disruptive to the city, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.