“The entire narrative surrounding this situation over the last 32 years has been wrought with complications and inconsistencies,” Jeff Berg told “Good Morning America” today.

Polanski’s arrest Saturday at the Zurich airport came at the request of a U.S. warrant on a 31-year-old statutory rape charge. Berg and Polanski’s lawyers have expressed shock that he was taken into custody in a country he is known to frequent, even owning a chalet there.

Lawyers for Polanski filed a motion in court today asking that the Oscar-winning director be released from Swiss custody — the first step in his legal battle to avoid extradition to the United States for the 1977 statutory rape case.

And Berg called the timing of the arrest, which occurred the same day Polanski was to have received an award at the Zurich Film Festival, “one of many cruel ironies” that Polanski has faced in his life.

First lady’s attitude about the effort to secure Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics: “Take no prisoners.”

First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to “take no prisoners” as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid.

First lady’s attitude about the effort to secure Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics: “Take no prisoners.”

“It’s a battle — we’re going to win — take no prisoners,” the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.

She compared the intense lobbying effort to the 2008 presidential campaign, noting that in the election campaign, a lot of voters made their decision in the final days. She said members of the International Olympic Committee may do the same.

“And our view is, we’re not taking a chance,” she said. “We’re just not going to assume that the bids — that the decisions are made, and so that no matter what the outcome is, we’ll feel as a country, as a team, that we’ve done everything that we can to bring it home.”

The White House confirmed Monday that President Obama will fly on Thursday to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the International Olympic Committee will be reviewing bids from several countries on Friday. It will be the first time that an American president has lobbied the IOC in this manner.

Mrs. Obama arrives in Copenhagen on Wednesday with White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and other top aides.

“What a dynamic duo they will be,” Jarrett said. “I think it will be high impact, I think their presentation will be both very personal, given that they know and love Chicago so well.”

Mrs. Obama said she and Vice President Joe Biden have been lobbying IOC members by telephone in recent days, and that she plans a packed schedule once she lands in Denmark.

“I think I’m talking to everybody,” she said of the dozens of IOC members who will decide the victor.

She will also make a formal presentation to the IOC, before the president makes his own pitch on Friday.

“We’re each going to do our own proposal,” she said. “I think we have as good a chance as any country.”

She joked, however, that there are limits to how far they will work together.

“We’re not going to do a joint poem together,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh.

She also revealed a story that suggests she’s taking the lobbying very seriously. At last week’s G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, she sat next to the first lady of Brazil, one of the nations with a rival bid.

“I adore her but I said, ‘You know, I’m going to hug you now and then I’m going after you in Copenhagen,’ ” Mrs. Obama recalled with a laugh. “And she said, ‘You too.’ So gloves are off.”

Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi pledged that his country will try to resolve the issue “both politically and technically.”

Iran will soon tell the International Atomic Energy Agency when it can inspect the Islamic republic’s recently revealed nuclear facility, the country’s state-run Press TV reported.

Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi pledged that his country will try to resolve the issue “both politically and technically.”

The head of Iran’s nuclear program made the announcement in an interview with Press TV on Monday, but he did not give a timetable for the potential inspection.

Iran revealed the existence of the covert uranium enrichment site last week, drawing condemnation from the West.

The country has also launched a series of missile tests which provoked a further strong response from Western leaders. Saturday, Iran tested short-range missiles, and Monday, it fired two types of long-range missiles.

What Tehran described as routine military exercises, France and the United States called “destabilizing” and “provocative.”

Iran claims its nuclear enrichment program is intended for peaceful purposes, but the international community accuses the country of continuing to try to develop nuclear weapons capability.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, accused the major powers of politicizing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities. He told Press TV the accusations that the newly revealed uranium enrichment plant is used for military purposes are “baseless.”

“It is against our tenets, it is against our religion to produce, use, hold or have nuclear weapons or arsenal,” Salehi told Press TV. “How can we more clearly state our position? Since 1974 we have been saying this.”

Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is scheduled to meet Thursday with representatives of the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will also attend the talks in Geneva, Switzerland.

Salehi told Press TV that Iran will try to resolve the issue “both politically and technically” during those meetings.

Both of Iran’s long-range missile tests successfully hit their targets, and Iran’s air force commander hailed the exercise as a show that Iran is “fully prepared and determined to stand against all threats.”

The Shahab-3 missile can strike targets between 1,300 to 2,000 kilometers (800 to 1,250 miles), according to the Fars News Agency.

If true, the missile brings Moscow, Russia; Athens, Greece; and southern Italy within striking distance.

The Sajil-2 missile is a solid-fuel rocket with a similar range and has been launched twice before, in November 2008 and May 2009.

Last Monday, Iran wrote a letter to the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency, revealing the existence of a second uranium enrichment facility. The IAEA acknowledged the admission on Friday, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain and France to publicly chide the Islamic republic and threaten further sanctions.

The facility is located on a military base near the city of Qom, about 100 miles southwest of Tehran, and is thought to be capable of housing 3,000 centrifuges, according to the officials and the IAEA. That is not enough to produce nuclear fuel to power a reactor, but sufficient to manufacture bomb-making material, according to a U.S. diplomatic source who read the letter.

Iran told the IAEA there is no nuclear material at the site, an agency spokesman said.

Salehi told Press TV that the plant is under construction within IAEA regulations. He said Iran has informed the IAEA that the new site will produce enriched uranium of up to 5 percent, consistent with its nuclear energy program.

The Philippines government says 246 people are now known to have died in severe flooding caused when Tropical Storm Ketsana struck on Saturday.

The country has appealed for foreign aid to deal with the disaster, which has displaced 450,000 people and left 380,000 living in makeshift shelters.

Public buildings including schools, universities and the presidential palace have become relief centres.

The storm has now hit Vietnam, where at least 22 people are said to have died.

The Vietnamese government earlier ordered the evacuation of more than 170,000 people as strong winds of up to 150km/h (93mph) and heavy rain began to affect the central coast.

Local media report that Ketsana, which has now strengthened into a typhoon, has caused flooding and power cuts. Vietnam Airlines has suspended all flights to the coastal cities of Danang and Hue.

Weather forecasters are predicting more heavy rain later this week, with a new storm forming in the Pacific likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday, making landfall on the island of Luzon.

Fragile situation

“Evacuees will be given shelter in available areas among the Malacanang [palace] buildings and in tents that will be put up in between the buildings,” Philippines President Arroyo said in a statement announcing the opening of the palace compound.

She said that if required, palace employees would “yield their work stations to provide more space for our displaced countrymen”, and that she had temporarily moved her office to another section of the compound along the Pasig river.