(Reuters) – Dozens of students walked out of Duke University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday as some chanted “free Palestine” to protest its guest speaker, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who has supported Israel throughout the war in Gaza, according to a video posted on social media.

Figures in robes and caps, some waving Palestinian flags, were seen filing out of crowds of graduates assembled on the grass in the North Carolina University’s football stadium in the video posted on X. Reuters was able to verify the video’s date and location.

The video also showed several attendees leaving the viewing stands, including a person wearing a keffiyeh, an emblem of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Others shouted “Jerry! Jerry!” as the actor received an honorary degree, and Seinfeld delivered his speech without major interruptions.

He visited Israel and has vocally supported it since Oct. 7 when militant group Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Meanwhile, Israel’s military operations have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.

The White House said on Tuesday that U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencement ceremonies where he and other administration officials will speak.

The walkout at Duke’s graduation was the latest manifestation of protests that have roiled U.S. campuses as students call for universities to divest from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and amnesty for students and faculty who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

The protests have prompted U.S. universities such as Columbia in New York and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to cancel their main graduation ceremonies this month. Other colleges and universities have relocated or modified commencement ceremonies.

TORONTO (Reuters) -The season’s first major wildfire continued to burn across Western Canada as firefighters tamed the fast spreading blaze while authorities evacuated thousands of residents and warned of poor air quality from British Columbia to Ontario.

Residents in a town in British Columbia were evacuated while many in Fort McMurray, an oil hub in Alberta that faced extensive damage from wildfires in 2016, were asked to prepare to leave.

On Sunday, authorities said the fire had subdued but was expected to increase as the temperatures soar.

Alberta said the wildfire was extreme and out of control, located 16 km (9.94 miles) southwest of Fort McMurray. It grew significantly over the weekend and was 5,500 hectares (13,590.8 acres) in size, growing several folds than what was reported earlier.

In British Columbia, thousands of residents in Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nations were asked to evacuate as the blaze spread in size to 2,483 hectares.

Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser in a television interview said most of the 3,500 residents in and around Fort Nelson had been evacuated.

Fraser said the fire was started by a tree blown down by strong winds falling onto a power line.

Six crews of wildland firefighters, 13 helicopters and airtankers will tame the fire on Sunday, said Alberta authorities.

Evacuation alerts were in place for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates and expanded to Gregoire Lake Estates and Rickards Landing Industrial Park late Saturday.

Although there is no immediate risk to these communities, the alert ensures residents are prepared to evacuate if conditions change.

Smoke in Fort McMurray on Saturday was coming from fires in northern British Columbia, Alberta said.

Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement that extends from British Columbia to Ontario on Sunday.

The federal government has warned Canada faces another “catastrophic” wildfire season as it forecast higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Nino weather conditions.

Canada experienced one of its warmest winters with low to non-existent snow in many areas, raising fears ahead of a hot summer triggering blazes in forests and wildlands amid an ongoing drought.

In 2016, more than 80,000 people evacuated from Fort McMurray as a fire torched thousands of homes and buildings.

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuanians voted on Sunday in a presidential election expected to hand a new term to incumbent Gitanas Nauseda, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its two-year war with Russia, following a campaign focusing on security concerns in the Baltic states.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT), with results expected after midnight. Turnout was 59%, the highest in nearly three decades, according the election commission web page.

If no candidate wins more than 50% – which is likely according to pre-election opinion surveys – a run-off vote will be held on May 26.

Nauseda, 59, a former senior economist at a top bank, was polling with the support of 29% of voters ahead of the election, a recent Delfi/Spinter Tyrimai survey showed. His strongest challenger was Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, the only woman running, with 14% of support.

Across the region, voters are worried the former Soviet republics that make up the Baltics, now members of the NATO military alliance and the European Union, could be the targets of Russian aggression in the future.

Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll has found. Lithuanian intelligence said in March Russia was on track to strengthen its military capabilities along its border with at NATO.

Moscow has regularly dismissed Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on a NATO member as nonsense.

FOOD STOCKPILES

Most of the candidates running in Sunday’s election, including Simonyte and Nauseda, have told the national broadcaster they both keep food stockpiles at home ready in case of a military conflict.

“I am doing all I can to make sure it will not be needed,” Nauseda said during a televised debate.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3% of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year, to pay for the modernisation of its army and infrastructure to support a brigade of German troops, and their families, that will be deployed in Lithuania and combat-ready from 2027.

While agreeing on Russia policy, the two top candidates differ on issues such as same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes, and have a history of acrimonious bickering and refusing to speak to each other.

Lithuania’s president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces and chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body, and represents the country at the European Union and NATO summits.

In tandem with the government, the president sets foreign and security policy, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and head of the central bank.

In 2019, Nauseda won a presidential election run-off against Simonyte, a former finance minister, with 66% of vote.

Simonyte is also facing a tough test in a general election this October, as government parties trail in the polls.