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April 8 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index opened flat at 7,448.09 on Monday.
* DEBENHAMS: Sports Direct SPD.L said on Monday it had offered to underwrite a 150 million pound ($196 million) rights issue at Debenhams DEB.L in exchange for its boss Mike Ashley taking the top job at the ailing retailer. NETWORK INTERNATONAL: Payments firm Network International IPO-NETW.L , set to be London's biggest initial public offering of the year so far, will be priced at between 430 pence and 450 pence per share, the bookrunner said on Monday. GENEL: Genel Energy Plc GENL.L named oil veteran and Chief Operating Officer Bill Higgs as its top executive, the oil and gas exploration and production company said on Monday. SHELL: China's Sinopec Corp 0386.HK has agreed with Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L to jointly study a shale oil block in east China's Shengli oilfield, the Chinese state oil and gas major said on Monday. Britain proposed new online safety laws on Monday that would slap penalties on social media companies and technology firms if they fail to protect their users from harmful content. TESCO: Tesco TSCO.L is working on a new loyalty scheme in the mould of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime, which would give its tens of millions of shoppers greater incentives to sign up to the company's bank and mobile phone services BHP: Mining company BHP Group BHPB.L , BHP.AX is poised to cut over 700 white-collar jobs, The Australian newspaper reported, adding that the process could start as early as next week. EARTHPORT: Britain's Competition and Markets Authority on Friday said it was investigating Visa (NYSE:V) Inc's V.N planned acquisition of payment company Earthport Plc EPO.L to gauge if the deal would reduce competition in the country. The UK blue chip index held firmly at its six-month high and closed 0.6 percent higher on Friday, marking a strong finish to the week as better-than-expected U.S. jobs data eased fears of a global economic slowdown while the pound weakened on growing Brexit jitters and lifted exporters. For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on: LIVE/
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