BBC News with Marion Marshall

President Obama is about to sign into law an extension of his predecessor's tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest Americans.

Mr Obama is opposed to the extension along with many of his party, but he agreed to it in order to get approval for his own plans to extend unemployment benefits from his Republican opponents.

Mark Mardell reports from Washington.

If this hadn't passed, taxes would have gone up for all Americans in the New Year.

The deal, cobbled together by President Obama and the Republican opposition, pleases almost no one

in its entirety

. But that means the president can

portray

himself as a compromiser, rising above

petty

party politics. The deal means tax cuts introduced by President Bush will be extended for another two years, including those for Americans earning more than $250,000 a year, tax cuts for the rich, say the Democrats, something President Obama has always opposed and

in principle

still does.

The trustee appointed to recover money stolen by the New York financier Bernard Madoff has reached a multibillion-dollar settlement with the estate of a man identified as the biggest single

beneficiary

of the fraud. It means about half the money lost in the

swindle

will ultimately be

recoup

ed. Theo Leggett reports.

The settlement represents something of a coup for the trustee Irving Picard. After the collapse of Bernard Madoff's investment firm in 2008, he was given the task of recovering money lost by investors, who'd unwittingly put their cash into the giant Ponzi scheme. Since then he's launched a wave of litigation against people and businesses