From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting.

President Donald Trump continued a line of attacks on the media during a campaign-style rally on the east coast of Florida Saturday. In front of several thousand cheering supporters, Trump began his speech by attacking media outlets whom he said were out of control.

"When the media lies to people, I will never ever let them get away with it. I will do whatever I can that they don't get away with it. They have their own agenda and their agenda is not your agenda."

Trump has ramped up his anti-press rhetoric over the past few days as information leaks roiled his White House and led to the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. That came after documents showed that Flynn misled members of the administration about his contacts with Russia's ambassador.

The president then spent nearly an hour talking about many of the same themes from his campaign, including building a border wall with Mexico, increasing size of the U.S. military, bringing jobs back to the United States and keeping the country safe.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator John McCain said President Trump's ongoing war with the news media was reminiscent of "how dictators get started."

In an interview with the NBC news show "Meet the Press," the Arizona Republican said looking at history, the first thing totalitarian governments do is "shut down the press."

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee, added that he is not calling President Trump a dictator but warned that Americans need to lean from the lessons of history. He said a free press is central to democracy even if stories challenge those in power.

This is VOA news.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the Munich Security Conference Saturday that that America would be "unwavering" in its support for the NATO alliance.

He said it would continue to hold Russia accountable, but as Henry Ridgwell reports, Pence also warned that allies have to step up their defense spending.

Vice President Mike Pence said he came to Munich bearing a message from President Trump. "I bring you this assurance: The United States of America strongly supports NATO and will be unwavering in our commitment to this trans-Atlantic alliance."

Ahead of the conference, much of the focus had been on relations between Washington and Moscow. "The United States will continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground, which as you know, President Trump believes can be found."

Listening to that was Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov rejected Western accusations of military aggression and denied Russia had tried to influence the U.S. election.

Henry Ridgwell, the VOA news, Munich, Germany.

Omar Abdel-Rahman, the extremist Muslim cleric convicted of conspiracy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and of planning terrorist attacks in the United States, has died in a U.S. prison. He was 78.

Rahman was linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people but he was never convicted of a crime directly related to it.

He had been incarcerated since 1995 for his advisory role in a failed plot to blow up several Manhattan landmarks, including the United Nations headquarters as well as a key bridge and two heavily traveled highway tunnels leading into the city.

A SpaceX rocket had to halt its launch on Saturday with just 13 seconds left in the countdown clock because of a technical issue.

"Dragon and Falcon 9 are boarded. This appears to be related to the second-stage thrust vector control system concern. Not able to complete, come to a complete consensus on that issue."

The company said that it was standing down to take a closer look at the positioning of the second-stage engine nozzle.

A spokesman for SpaceX said that engineers found a small helium leak in the second-stage thrust control and the launch was delayed "out of an abundance of caution."

And, a huge Pacific rain storm that pounded southern California and left two people dead has eased but more rain is in the forecast for Los Angeles.

The National Weather Service says that rain is also expected to hit northern California where 188,000 people had evacuated their homes near the Lake Oroville dam last week.

For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.