* ECB throws banks funding lifeline, hints at resumed bond buys *  European policymakers tried to turn a more powerful fire hose on the euro zone debt crisis on Thursday but financial markets were unimpressed with their response. The European Central Bank resumed buying government bonds after a four-month break and announced new longer-term

Germany's second-biggest lender, Commerzbank , will post writedowns of more than 700 mln euros ($1 bln) on its Greek sovereign bond holdings in the second quarter, three sources told Reuters. That would make Commerzbank, which has around 3 bln euros of Greek government debt exposure, the most affected major European bank. Commerzbank is due to

OTE, the biggest telecoms company in southeastern Europe, on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected profit for the second quarter, but said no sales growth was expected soon in its recession-hit Greek home market. The former monopoly, now 40% owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom, had a net profit of 62.2 mln euros ($88.64 mln), above a 53.1

Coca-Cola Hellenic , the world's second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola soft drinks, said tough economic conditions and a hike in input costs such as sugar and aluminium prices hit second quarter profit. The company said it expected commodities prices to remain high throughout the year and that it would pass on to consumers a planned VAT

Greece hopes to have completed all procedures for a new debt rescue deal, including a bond swap with private creditors, by early October, its finance minister said on Wednesday. Euro zone leaders agreed at an emergency summit last month to give the debt-choked country a second bailout to avoid bankruptcy. Banks have pledged to shoulder

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States Monday of living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets. "They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy," Putin told

* Google+ is fastest site to reach 25 mln visitors * Facebook, Twitter took much longer to reach that size * Fast growth early may not mean long-term success * U.S. users exceed 6 mln, India users exceed 3.6 mln   Google Inc's (GOOG.O) new social network has attracted 25 million users, making it the