Donald Trump to rename world war anniversaries as ‘Victory Day’

President Donald Trump in his second term has repeatedly sought to rename parts of US public life. (Reuters)
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Updated 02 May 2025
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Donald Trump to rename world war anniversaries as ‘Victory Day’

  • ‘I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I’
  • No executive order or proclamation enumerating the holiday name changes has been formally issued yet by the White House

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his intent to rename both May 8 and November 11 “Victory Day” in his latest attempt to alter the country’s nomenclature.
“I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Victory Day, observed by the European Union on May 8 and in former Soviet countries on May 9, marks the anniversary of the formal acceptance of Germany’s unconditional surrender.
The war continued in Asia until the surrender of Japan in early September 1945 after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Though some in the United States mark the occasion, May 8 is not a public holiday or celebrated as widely as in Europe.
“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II,” Trump’s post said.
November 11 was originally named “Armistice Day” by former US president Woodrow Wilson to mark the anniversary of 1918 armistice ending the armed conflict in World War I.
It is now a public holiday celebrated in the United States as “Veterans Day” and meant to honor Americans who have served in the US armed forces.
“We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything – That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so!” Trump continued. “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”
During World War II the Soviet Union, in which Russia was the largest of 15 republics, was allied with Britain and the United States against Nazi Germany.
The USSR suffered the greatest number of casualties in the war, with more than 20 million killed.
No executive order or proclamation enumerating the holiday name changes has been formally issued yet by the White House.
Trump in his second term has repeatedly sought to rename parts of US public life, whether it be a national holiday – such as changing “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” back to “Columbus Day” – or a geographical feature, like renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America.”


Iran-linked hackers claim cyberattack on Albanian parliament

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Iran-linked hackers claim cyberattack on Albanian parliament

  • Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as 'terrorist'
  • Albania’s IT services were targeted, in 2022, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran
TIRANA: Albania’s parliament on Tuesday said it had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack,” after Iran-linked hackers claimed to have stolen lawmakers’ data.
A group called “Homeland Justice,” which has previously been linked to Iran and claimed responsibility for past cyberattacks in Albania, announced the hack on Telegram.
“All conversations and correspondence of corrupt MPs from recent months are in the hands of Homeland Justice,” the post said.
“We are much closer to you than you think.”
Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as “terrorist.”
Experts have warned that as the war in the Middle East continues, highly capable hackers linked to Iran have broadened their activities.
In a statement, the Albanian parliament said its computer systems had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems.”
“It was found that information had been deleted from several accounts belonging to administration employees,” it added, saying “the main working infrastructure” did not appear to be affected and that measures had been taken “to neutralize the attack.”
The country’s National Cyber Security Authority said it had teams investigating the attack.
“Further information will be made public after the technical assessment is completed,” the authority’s director, Saimir Kapllani, told AFP.
In June, Homeland Justice also attacked the information technology services of the Albanian capital, Tirana.
In 2022, Albania’s IT services were also targeted, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.