Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has sued Sotheby’s auction house for $380 million (£292 million) in New York as part of his long feud with a Swiss dealer over the “largest art fraud in history”. 

The deeply personal dispute stems from former potash magnate Mr Rybolovlev’s purchases of 38 paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso, Gustav Klimt and Leonardo da Vinci for more than $2 billion.

A European-based big spender with an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion, Mr Rybolovlev owns the football club AS Monaco and previously bought a $95 million Florida home from Donald Trump. 

Swiss shipping scion Yves Bouvier, a backroom art dealer for the global elite and longtime advisor to Mr Rybolovlev, arranged the purchases over more than a decade, taking a commission for his work.

But the Russian billionaire contends that Mr Bouvier, who is also under investigation for fraud by Swiss investigators, swindled him out of more than $1 billion by charging him too much for the masterpieces.

He has sought his revenge on Geneva’s “freeport king” through what Mr Bouvier’s lawyers have called a “global terror campaign” involving legal action in several countries.

The complaint filed by two British Virgin Island companies of Mr Rybolovlev in the US district court in Manhattan on Tuesday alleged that London-founded Sotheby’s “lent a veneer of legitimacy” by providing Mr Bouvier with inflated appraisals of paintings’ values and omitting the previous prices from transaction histories.

“[Sotheby’s] knew the actual prices Bouvier paid to the sellers and the fraudulently inflated prices Bouvier induced Plaintiffs to pay to him,” the complaint said. 

Sotheby’s has disputed the claim that it knew Mr Bouvier was working for Mr Rybolovlev and said it would ask the judge to throw out the “desperate lawsuit”.

“The false allegations that Mr Rybolovlev is making are already being litigated in the Swiss courts, which is the appropriate venue for this case,” the auction house said in statements to media. 

Mr Bouvier and Sotheby’s jointly sued the Russian in Geneva in 2017 to pre-empt a lawsuit he threatened to bring against them in the UK. 

For his part, Mr Bouvier has argued that he was not officially Mr Rybolovlev’s agent but merely sold him paintings he had bought on his own. 

At the heart of the “Bouvier affair” lies a Leonardo painting of Christ, "Salvator Mundi", which the Swiss dealer sold to Mr Rybolovlev for $118 million after reportedly buying it for $75-80 million.

Ironically, the Russian billionaire made a handsome windfall on "Salvator Mundi" when a Saudi prince bought it for $450 million in a record-setting purchase. He sold other paintings, however, for a loss. 

The New York suit may bring to light documents related to the original purchase of "Salvator Mundi", which Sotheby’s and Mr Bouvier have asked the Swiss judge to forbid.

The new lawsuit alleged that in one case Mr Bouvier bought Amedeo Modigliani’s "Reclining Nude with a Blue Cushion" for $95 million but sold it on to Mr Rybolovlev for more than $120 million, giving a $5 million kickback to a family confidant.

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, on Sunday publicly warned administration staff that they needed to either work with the Trump agenda or leave their positions.

His comments came after reports that Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, discussed wearing a wire and recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th amendment in the days following the firing of James Comey, the FBI director. 

The  25th amendment allows for the removal of the president from office if he or she was deemed unfit to carry out duties.

In a thinly-veiled attack raising further questions over whether Mr Trump would fire Mr Rosenstein, Mr Pompeo suggested that White House officials should find "something else to do" if they do not support President Trump’s agenda. 

"I’ve been pretty clear since my beginning of service here in this administration, if you can’t be on the team, if you’re not supporting this mission, then maybe you ought to find something else to do,” he said.

"I’ve told that to my senior colleagues, I’ve told it to junior folks at the CIA, and the State Department; we need everyone who’s engaged in helping achieve President Trump’s mission.

"And I hope that everyone in every agency: DOJ, FBI, State Department is on that mission.”

"If you’re not, you should take this time to do something more productive," he said.

Mr Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller investigation, denied making the comments which were leaked from memos written by Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director.

“I never pursued or authorized recording the president, and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the president is absolutely false."

According to reports, senior Republicans have convinced a furious Mr Trump not to axe Mr Rosenstein, at least until the midterms are over for fear of negative blowback from voters.

The GOP is also concerned firing him may further jeopordise the confirmation of  Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court which remains of a knife edge with news that Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

Dr Ford’s lawyers last night confirmed the appointment on Sunday night.

“We committed to moving forward with an open hearing on Thursday September 27 at 10am,” Dr Ford’s attorneys said in a statement. 

A Fox News poll released on Sunday showed support for Mr Trump’s pick was wavering among the public with just 40 per cent of voters saying they would confirm, down five per cent from a month ago.

Donald Trump apologised "on behalf of the nation" to newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and said the judge had been "proven innocent" of sexual assault allegations.

In a swearing-in ceremony at the White House, following a torrid confirmation process that divided America, the US president slammed Democrat opponents for having waged a "campaign of personal destruction" against Justice Kavanaugh.

The new Supreme Court justice himself sought to leave the controversy behind, promising to be a "team player" on the nine-member court, and a "great justice for all Americans".

Justice Kavanaugh, who will be a conservative voice on the court, said he had "no bitterness," that he felt "gratitude" for eventually being confirmed, and that the Supreme Court was "not a partisan or political institution".

At the ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Justice Kavanaugh’s wife Ashley held the Bible as he took the oath, and his two daughters stood by his side.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the retiring judge whose place he is taking, administered the oath in front of the eight other serving members of the Supreme Court.

During his confirmation process Justice Kavanaugh faced an allegation that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl when he was in high school.

The alleged victim Christine Blasey Ford, now a university professor, gave evidence to the Senate judiciary committee, and Justice Kavanaugh vehemently denied the allegation.

Addressing Justice Kavanaugh at the White House, Mr Trump said: "On behalf of the nation, I’d like to apologise to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you’ve been forced to endure.

"Those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception."

He added: "In our country, a man or a woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. And with that, I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent."

As Mr Trump stood with the judge’s family, Justice Kavanaugh sought to play down the political maelstrom that surrounded his confirmation, and said he would serve "one nation".

He said: "The Supreme Court is a team of nine and I will always be a team player on the team of nine. The Senate confirmation process was contentious and emotional. That process is over.

"Although the Senate confirmation process tested me, as it has tested others, it did not change me. My focus now is to be the best justice I can be. I take this office with gratitude and no bitterness."

Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, resigned last night, prompting speculation that she could be plotting a run on the White House to become America’s first female president in 2024.

Mrs Haley, 46, regarded as a star of the Trump administration for her unrelenting defence of the president’s America First policy on the world stage, unexpectedly announced her departure, catching cabinet colleagues and US allies off guard.

Mr Trump initially appeared to suggest he was considering his own daughter Ivanka as a replacement as the top US diplomat to the UN, saying she would be "dynamite" in the role.

The US president said Ms Trump, 36, who is currently a senior White House adviser, would be "incredible" and there was no-one "more competent in the world." but admitted he would face accusations of "nepotism".

Within a few hours Ms Trump wrote on Twitter that the replacement "will not be me".

Mrs Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, immediately ruled out suggestions she could try to unseat Mr Trump as the Republican presidential nominee in 2020.

Appearing with Mr Trump in the Oval Office, she said: “For all of you that are going to ask about 2020 – no, I’m not running for 2020. I can promise you what I’ll be doing is campaigning for this one [Mr Trump].”

She said it had been the “honour of a lifetime” serving as ambassador to the UN, adding: “It was a blessing to go into the UN every day with body armour.”

Mr Trump called Mrs Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, a “very special person”. He said she had made the UN role “more glamorous” and done an “incredible job”. He added: "Maybe you’ll be coming back at some point, in a different capacity."

Mrs Haley explained her resignation decision by saying she had “long believed that rotation in office benefits the public”. There was “no personal reason,” she added.

There have been reports that her foreign policy role had become more limited since the appointment of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, and John Bolton as national security adviser. Both men were reportedly surprised by her departure. Mr Pompeo offered a short public statement wishing her well in her new role.

Mrs Haley indicated she would work in the private sector where a lucrative job could be a big draw.

According to her 2018 financial disclosures she has a mortgage of over $1  million, and credit card debts of tens of thousands of dollars. She also has one child in college, and another going there in a few years.

David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said Mrs Haley was "preparing for the post-Trump era," and would "certainly be in the mix" for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Brett Bruen, former White house global engagement director in the Obama administration, suggested her decision was a “political calculation” aimed at positioning herself for the White House in six years’ time.

He said: “She doesn’t want to be part of the administration after the midterms when Democrats could retake control of the House or the Senate.

“She is preparing her presidential campaign, she’s preparing to lay the ground, if not for 2020, then 2024.”

In her resignation letter Mr Haley said Mr Trump had agreed at the outset to let her “speak my mind on the issues of the day” and he had honoured that. Last month, in an op-ed for The Washington Post, she wrote: “I proudly serve in this administration. But I don’t agree with the president on everything.”

Gunmen opened fire on a military parade in Iran on Saturday, killing 24 people including elite Revolutionary Guard troops, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent years.

Four assailants targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch an annual event in the southwestern city of Ahvaz marking the start of the Islamic Republic’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.

There were reports they were dressed in Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) uniforms.

A pan-Arab, anti-government group called the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz appeared to take responsibility for the attack, which wounded more than 50 people. Among the dead were eight IRGC servicemen, as well as women and children.

Islamic State also later claimed it, but Iranian authorities deemed it not to be credible.

Ahvaz is in the centre of Khuzestan province, where there have been sporadic protests by the Arab minority.

Such attacks are relatively rare in Iran. However, tensions between mainly Iran and Saudi Arabia have surged in recent years, with the two countries supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) play a major role in Iran’s regional interests in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Mohammed Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said the assault was the handiwork of "regional terror sponsors".

“Terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz,” he tweeted. “Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.”

The brazen attack appeared to be a direct attack on the Revolutionary Guards – the most powerful and heavily armed military force in the Islamic Republic.

The IRGC have been the sword and shield of Shia clerical rule since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Guards also play a major role in Iran’s regional interests in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, a spokesman for the guards, said that the attack was launched to “overshadow the greatness of the armed forces parades [across the country]”.

It also came as Tehran faces growing US pressure.

President Donald Trump decided in May to pull the US out of the 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimpose sanctions in a bid to isolate the Iran.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the accord, but Tehran has said repeatedly it cannot negotiate under the pressure of the sanctions.

Mr Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, will both be in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly. But Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting, which the US president has said he will chair.

A powerful typhoon brought down trees onto railroad tracks and kicked up debris across Tokyo as it brushed past the Japanese capital early on Monday, killing two people and stranding thousands as train lines were closed or severely delayed.

Typhoon Trami made landfall in western Japan on Sunday evening and threatened heavy rains, strong winds and landslides on the northern-most main island of Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The island was hit by a deadly earthquake last month.

The typhoon, rated by Tropical Storm Risk as a category 1, the lowest on a five-point scale, killed two people and injured almost 130, public broadcaster NHK said.

Another two people were missing, it said, and almost 400,000 households were without power.

Aerial footage on NHK showed hundreds of people waiting outside train stations, with several major commuter lines closed since Sunday.

More than 230 flights were cancelled, mainly in northern Japan, NHK said.

Kansai International Airport in Osaka in western Japan said it had opened its runways as scheduled at 6 a.m. (2100 GMT Sunday), after being closed since 11 a.m. on Sunday.

The airport had only fully reopened on Sept. 21 after being heavily flooded earlier that month by Typhoon Jebi, the most powerful storm to hit Japan in 25 years.