Portrait of a Lady, by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, had been missing for 80 years before it was spotted last month on an estate agent’s website, where a photo showed it hanging in a house that had belonged to the daughter of a Nazi fugitive.

Patricia Kadgien’s late father Friedrich had been a top adviser to Hermann Goring, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, who plundered thousands of works from across Europe.

Prosecutors said the artwork had now been returned by the lawyer of Ms Kadgien, who was under house arrest after a search of her property initially failed to find the painting.

Ariel Bassano, an art expert who worked on the case, told reporters it was “in good condition for its age, as it dates from 1710”.

He valued it at “around $50,000”, according to the local La Capital Mar del Plata newspaper.

Prosecutors earlier said raids at other properties linked to the family had turned up other pieces that may have been stolen during the war.

Ms Kadgien and her husband had been ordered to remain under house arrest for three days starting Monday, local media reported. They were being questioned for obstructing the investigation to locate the painting, according to a judicial official quoted in local media.

The pair were expected to face a hearing on Thursday, where they would likely be charged with “concealment of theft in the context of genocide”, the official added.

The couple insist they are the rightful owners of the artwork, which they had inherited, according to Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper.

The lawyer for Ms Kadgien, Carlos Murias, told local newspaper La Capital that the pair would co-operate with the authorities.

Four other properties were searched in the hunt for the painting, the prosecutor’s office said.

During these searches, two paintings and a series of drawings and engravings from the 19th Century were found at the home of Ms Kadgien’s sister, La Capital reported, and would be analysed to determine if they were items stolen during the war.

The painting first spotted online, Portrait of a Lady, was among the collection of Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, much of which was forcibly sold by the Nazis after his death. It is listed on a database of art stolen by the Nazis.

Peter Schouten of the Dutch Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper, which broke the initial story about the long-lost artwork’s reappearance, said that there was evidence “the painting was removed shortly afterwards or after the media reports about it appeared”.

“There’s now a large rug with horses and some nature scenes hanging there, which police say looks like something else used to hang there.”

Some of the works owned by Goudstikker were recovered in Germany after the war, and put on display in Amsterdam as part of the Dutch national collection.

His sole-surviving heir, daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, said her family “aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection, and to restore his legacy”.

According to AD, she took possession of 202 pieces in 2006.

Heavy rain began lashing Bahía Blanca in Buenos Aires province at about 04:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Friday, turning streets into rivers and leaving large parts of the city without electricity.

At a local hospital, new-born babies had to be evacuated after flood waters invaded the building. Elsewhere, more than 40 families have had to leave their homes and the airport has been closed.

Local authorities closed schools and suspended public transport. They warned residents to stay at home until further notice.

The authorities said up to 250mm (10in) of rain had already fallen, with another 50-100mm expected before the storm abates.

The city normally receives about 600-650mm of rain a year.

Images shared on social media showed cars being carried off by raging flood waters.

“Due to the climate emergency and in order to protect the safety of residents, the Municipality of Bahía Blanca orders the absolute cessation of all types of activities until further notice,” local officials said.

Bahía Blanca is under a state of emergency and the authorities have opened several evacuation centres in different parts of the city.

Bahía Blanca, a city with about a third of a million inhabitants, is a major port in the south-western part of Buenos Aires province.

Argentina’s Meteorological Service issued a red alert for storms in the area, saying further heavy rains would be accompanied by winds of up to 90 km/h and occasional hail.

The cryptocoin $Libra quickly rose in value before nosediving, causing severe losses for the majority of people who had invested in it.

A judge will now determine if the president should face fraud charges over the incident.

On Monday, Milei said he had acted “in good faith” and dismissed investors’ complaints, comparing their actions to people who gamble: “If you go to a casino and lose money, what’s there to complain about when you knew the risks?”

President Milei spoke about the $Libra incident in an interview with Argentine TV channel Todo Noticias on Monday, after a weekend during which he had stayed unusually quiet on social media.

He insisted that his post on X, which contained a link to a site selling $Libra, did not constitute an endorsement.

“I didn’t promote it, I merely shared it,” he told Todo Noticias’ Jonny Viale.

Milei’s post, which he deleted after just a few hours, drew heavy criticism not just from his political rivals in Argentina but also from those who had invested in the cryptocurrency.

Some have argued the $Libra launch resembled a “rug pull” – where promoters draw in buyers, only to stop trading activity and make off with the money raised from sales.

The presidential office insisted that Milei was in no way involved in the development of $Libra and announced that the Anti-Corruption Office would determine if the president had acted improperly.

Milei himself defended deleting his post, saying that at the time he did not know “the details of the project and after learning about it, I decided not to continue promoting it”.

Opposition politicians, however, have not been placated by the statements, threatening to start impeachment proceedings against Milei.

While political analysts point out that the opposition is unlikely to get the votes needed for an impeachment trial to go ahead, the scandal threatens to divert Milei’s attention away from his radical reform agenda.

A federal judge has been tasked with deciding whether fraud allegations brought against the president by a number of plaintiffs should go ahead.

In his TV interview, Milei appeared combative, stressing that he had “nothing to hide”.

He also said that those who had invested in $Libra had done so “voluntarily” and knew of the risks.

“It’s like playing Russian roulette and getting the bullet.”

Milei posted on X, formerly Twitter, about the $LIBRA coin on Friday, which he said would help fund small businesses and start-ups.

He shared a link to buy it, causing its price to shoot up. But within a few hours, he deleted his post and the cryptocurrency nosedived in value, losing investors most of their money.

Some opposition members of Congress say they plan to start proceedings to impeach Milei. Meanwhile, lawyers filed complaints of fraud in Argentina’s criminal court on Sunday.

Some people online have accused Milei of what is known as a “rug pull” – where promoters of a cryptocurrency draw in buyers, only to stop trading activity and make off with the money raised from sales. They pointed out that the link used to buy the coins referenced a phrase the president uses in his speeches.

But Argentina’s presidential office said on Saturday that the decision to remove the post was to avoid “speculation” following public reaction to the launch of the cryptocurrency.

It said Milei was not involved in the cryptocurrency’s development, and that the government’s Anti-Corruption Office would investigate and determine whether anyone had acted improperly, including the president himself.

Jonatan Baldiviezo, one of the plaintiffs who filed the legal action, told Associated Press “the crime of fraud was committed, in which the president’s actions were essential”.

Milei’s political opponents have jumped on the opportunity.

Former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is now in opposition, was heavily critical, calling him a “crypto scammer” in a post seen 6.4 million times.

For its part, the country’s main opposition coalition said it would file a request to impeach the president, calling it an “unprecedented scandal“.

Esteban Paulón, a member of the opposition Socialist Party, said in a post on X that he would also request the start of impeachment proceedings.

15 hours ago

Leonardo Rocha & George Wright

BBC NewsShareSave

More than 100 people were evacuated from a luxury residential tower in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, as a fire spread through several floors, emergency services said.

Forty people were treated for smoke inhalation and several others were admitted to hospital before the blaze was controlled.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

The 50-floor building is located in the exclusive neighbourhood of Puerto Madero.

Alberto Crescenti, head of Buenos Aires emergency services, told local media the fire had “extended all the way to the 15th floor”.

Broken glass fell from the windows, he said.

“Luckily, it was a very fast evacuation, meaning people are not at risk,” he added.

Firefighter Christian Benitez told AFP news agency all the residents were out of danger.

“I heard the fire alarm and came downstairs as quickly as I could,” Ornella Gril, 30, told AFP outside the building.

Mariano Pavone, an ex-footballer who played for Argentine giants River Plate and Spanish club Real Betis, who lives in the building, told Noticias Argentinas news agency: “I saw smoke and went down with my son and my dog.

“Luckily nothing happened to my flat. I’m anxious for my neighbours. Luckily it was just a scare.”

Pictures and videos show the intensely coloured water flowing into an estuary, the Rio de la Plata, which borders an ecological reserve.

Local media reports suggest the colour may have been caused by the dumping of textile dye, or by chemical waste from a nearby depot.

The Environment Ministry said in a statement that water samples had been taken from the Sarandí canal to determine the cause of the colour change.

By late afternoon the colour of the water had lost some of its intensity, the AFP news agency reported.

Residents have claimed that many local companies dispose of toxic waste in the waterway, which runs through an area of leather processing and textile factories some 10km (6 miles) from the centre of the capital.

A resident, a woman called Silvia, told local news channel C5N that although it is has turned red now, “other times it was yellow, with an acidic smell that makes us sick even in the throat”.

“I live a block from the stream. Today, it has no smell. There are not many factories in the area, although there are warehouses.”

Another resident, Maria Ducomls, told AFP industries in the region dump waste in the water, and said she had seen it coloured differently in the past – “bluish, a little green, pink, a little lilac, with grease on top”.

A spokesman for President Milei said the decision to exit the WHO was triggered by “deep differences regarding health management especially during the [Covid-19] pandemic”.

The announcement comes just over two weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing from the international health body.

The two leaders have expressed admiration for each other, with Milei calling Trump’s re-election the “greatest political comeback in history”, while the US president described his Argentine counterpart as “my favourite president”.

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In an official statement, the Argentine presidential office said that “the WHO was created in 1948 to co-ordinate the response to global health emergencies, but it failed during the biggest challenge: it advocated eternal lockdowns without scientific backing during its battle against the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The statement also argues that “today, evidence suggests that the WHO’s prescriptions don’t work because they are the result of political influence rather than being based on science”.

Argentine media say they expect President Milei to sign an executive order in the coming days which will begin the process of Argentina pulling out from the WHO.

Speaking at a news conference, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said that “we Argentines are not going to allow an international body to interfere with our sovereignty, and even less with our health”.

The spokesman argued that an exit from the WHO would provide Argentina with more flexibility to implement policies tailored to its own interests and to administer its funds as it saw fit.

He said membership of the WHO cost Argentina about $10m (£8m) annually.

President Milei, who describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist”, has been critical of the WHO for some time but the idea of leaving the body appears to have gained traction in the days after Donald Trump signed an executive order setting in motion the US’s exit from the international body.

The two heads of state appear to share mutual admiration for each other.

Javier Milei was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his election victory on 5 November.

Speaking at a gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on the night of their meeting, Milei said that “the winds of freedom [were] blowing much stronger since Trump’s victory”.

Asked by reporters on Wednesday whether President Milei was planning to withdraw from other international bodies or treaties, the presidential spokesman refused to rule out anything.

“The president is very determined when it comes to making Argentina freer, so any link that Argentina has with bodies that go against its freedoms, we’re going to do our utmost to prevent them from interfering in the lives of Argentines.”

Environmental activists in Argentina say they fear that Milei will follow in Trump’s footsteps and also set the wheels in motion to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement – the international treaty which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The 31-year-old star died on 16 October after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires.

The hotel’s manager, Gilda Martin, and its receptionist, Esteban Grassi, as well as Payne’s friend Roger Nores have been charged with manslaughter, Argentina’s prosecutor’s office says.

Ezequiel Pereyra – who also worked at the hotel – and Braian Paiz, a waiter, have been charged with supplying drugs.

Under Argentina’s legal system, the prosecutor’s office gathers evidence which it then presents to a judge, who has to decide whether to proceed to trial.

According to a statement released by the prosecutor’s office, Judge Laura Bruniard already took the decision to proceed to the next stage on Friday.

The defendants’ lawyers can appeal against that decision. If their appeals are not successful, the trial phase starts.

In court documents, Judge Bruniard listed the charges against the five suspects, who are referred to by their initials, as is the custom in court documents at this stage of the proceedings.

• Hotel employee EDP is suspected of having sold Liam Payne cocaine on 15 and 16 October
• Waiter BNP is also suspected of having sold cocaine to Liam Payne twice on 14 October
• Payne’s friend RLN is suspected of manslaughter for allegedly “failing to fulfil his duties of care, assistance and help” towards the singer after having “abandoned him to his luck knowing that he was incapable of fending for himself and knowing that he [Payne] suffered from multiple addictions”
• Hotel Manager GAM is suspected of manslaughter for allegedly failing to stop Payne from being taken to his hotel room moments before his death. According to the court papers, given Payne’s state, the room’s balcony posed a “serious threat” and the manager should have ensured Payne was kept in a safe place until medical help arrived
• Chief receptionist ERG is also suspected of manslaughter for allegedly asking three people to “drag” Payne, who could not stand up, to his room, instead of keeping him safe.

Judge Bruniard said that she did not think that Liam Payne’s friend, the hotel manager and the receptionist “had planned or wanted the death of Payne” but that their actions had created a “risk” to his life.

If found guilty, the three could face sentences of between one and five years in prison.

The sentence for supplying drugs is more severe and ranges between four and 15 years in jail.

Judge Bruniard has ordered the two accused of supplying the drugs be remanded in custody.

They have been summoned to appear in court within 24 working hours.

In November, the prosecutor’s office said toxicology tests revealed traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in Payne’s body.

A post-mortem examination determined his cause of death as “multiple trauma” and “internal and external haemorrhage”, as a result of the fall from the hotel balcony.

According to the prosecutor’s office, medical reports also suggested Payne may have fallen in a state of semi or total unconsciousness.

The prosecutor’s office said this ruled out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act by Payne, and they had concluded the singer did not know what he was doing nor have any comprehension of his actions.

Speaking to US celebrity news outlet TMZ after Payne’s death, Roger Nores said he was a “very good friend” of the singer and they had spent time together on the day the star died.

He said Payne “seemed playful and happy” when he left him about an hour before the musician fell from the balcony.

After Payne’s death, police found substances in his hotel room and objects and furniture that had been damaged.

Hotel staff had made two calls to emergency services saying they had a guest who had taken “too many drugs and alcohol”, and was “trashing the entire room”, it was previously reported.

Payne became one of the most recognisable names in pop after appearing on The X Factor and rising to fame with the boyband One Direction in the 2010s before the band went on an indefinite hiatus in January 2016.

The singer’s funeral was held in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last month.

His former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the mourners, alongside Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy and his former partner Cheryl, with whom he shares a son.