SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Online video search service blinkx took on Google with the Wednesday launch of a video advertising platform to challenge one released by the Internet giant a day earlier.

The blinkx AdHoc platform lets people embed ad-laced videos in their websites and then share in advertising revenues in the same way that Google's new AdSense 'video units' does.

Blinkx promises website operators half the money taken in from advertising. Google has not disclosed the percentage of revenues going to publishers.

LONDON, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - A British group launched an advertising campaign on Monday aimed at countering negative stereotypes about Muslims in the wake of the July 7, 2005 suicide bombings in London.

Islam-is-Peace bought advertising for London buses and Underground trains showing Muslims in a range of professions, including a policewoman and the chef Michael Barry, with the slogan 'Proud to be a British Muslim'.

PARIS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The French media and advertising group Havas on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in first half profit.

Havas said first half net earnings came to 35 million euros (49 million dollars), a 70.6 percent gain over the same period of 2006.

Operating earnings rose 16.9 percent to 75 million euros from sales of 729 million euros, up 4.4 percent from first half 2006. The operating margin came to 10.3 percent.

BRUSSELS, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Catholic bishops in Belgium have protested a TV ad depicting a pot-bellied, hippy Jesus performing miracles and picking up scantily-clad girls up in a nightclub, a church spokesman said Friday.

'We have expressed our disapproval to the president of RTL's administrative council' Jacques Santer and the ethical advertising body, demanding the withdrawal of this publicity campaign, Father Eric de Beukelaer told AFP.

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa's advertising watchdog rejected complaints Wednesday over a commercial showing a secretary spitting into her boss's coffee, saying she cleared her throat too loudly for it to be taken seriously.

The advert by a chain of florists for Secretaries Day earlier this month showed a woman noisily clearing phlegm from her throat before spitting it into a cup of coffee, accompanied by a reminder not to forget your staff on the day.

NEW YORK, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - AOL unveiled Monday a global advertising platform it said marked another step in a restructuring for the once-dominant Internet firm that has been losing ground in recent years.

AOL, media titan Time Warner's Internet subsidiary, announced a series of changes aimed at positioning the company 'as the world's largest and most effective advertising network.'

PARIS, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - French group JCDecaux said Wednesday it had signed an exclusive 15-year contract to provide advertising on the Shanghai metro, worth about 1.5 billion euros (2.05 billion dollars) over the period.

The firm, which is behind the new 'Velib' fleet of rental bicycles in Paris, already manages all advertising bar the television adverts on trains and platforms on the Chinese city's existing five metro lines.

MOSCOW, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - Russian police Thursday raided the Moscow office of BBDO Russia Group, one of Russia's five top advertising companies, the Kommersant daily reported Friday.

'Apparently, we are being accused of using unlicensed software,' one company source was quoted as saying, while another said that it was the federal tax service that conducted the raid.

According to the company's chairman of the board, Ella Stewart, 'a Western company audited BBDO Russia Group a month and a half ago,' and 'all software we use is licensed.'

LONDON, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's advertising watchdog on Wednesday banned Ryanair from claiming that the Irish no-frills airline was cheaper, faster and more punctual than high-speed Eurostar trains to Brussels.

Ryanair had claimed in a press advert that its 70-minute flight between London's Stansted airport and Charleroi, southern Belgium, was a faster journey than a 131-minute Eurostar rail link between Waterloo train station and Brussels.

TOKYO, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's largest advertising firm Dentsu Inc. said Monday its operating profit slipped by nearly a third in the first quarter as it could not sustain the boom triggered by last year's football World Cup.

Dentsu said sales of advertisements in traditional media continued to slip, although it reported strong growth for outdoor and in-transport ads.