 Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm Paul Henley. President Macron and representatives of the French left wing are in tense negotiations about a deal that would unite them to try to prevent the far right taking an absolute majority in parliamentary elections. The president's gamble of calling early elections appears to have backfired after the extremist national rally won a resounding victory in yesterday's first round of polling.