It has long been a mystery exactly what causes the formation of cirrus clouds, the wispy billows of ice that can be seen high in the sky. But new research, detailed in the May 9 issue of the journal Science, finds that theand freeze, or nucleate, on very specific mineral and metal particles high in the atmosphere. That makes cirrus clouds unique: Most other clouds form primarily by , said study author Dan Cziczo, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It's important to know how these clouds form, as they can cover up to 30 percent of the Earth's atmosphere at any given time, and have a big effect on the climate, Cziczo told OurAmazingPlanet.

Clouds and climate

In fact, clouds have about 10 times the impact on climate that man-made greenhouse-gas emissions do, said Brian Toon, a researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder who wasn't involved in the study. "The largest uncertainty in understanding climate change is understanding clouds, since they are so much more important," he said. []

The new study shows, however, that humans actually impact the formation of cirrus clouds (just asand vice versa, in little-understood ways), by sampling the ice crystals making up the clouds and seeing what particles they formed on. Although mineral particles have always found their way into the upper atmosphere, where cirrus clouds hang out, humans have increased the amount of mineral dust that arrives there through land-use changes such as deforestation and land development, Toon said. Cziczo estimates that the level of these minerals has increased by about 50 percent since the beginning of industrialization. Metallic particles are also introduced by humans through the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial activities, he said.

But how does this affect the amount or size of ? It's too early to say, Cziczo said, but the data from the study will help improve computer models of climate change. Toon said more mineral particles kicked up by humans could equate to more cirrus clouds, although there are many other factors that complicate the situation.

It's also unclear how cirrus clouds might affect the climate. Depending on their location in the atmosphere, they can either help cool the Earth or warm it up. Unlike liquid water clouds, which generally cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, ice clouds can help warm it up by absorbing reflected heat, Toon said.

Particle man

Cirrus clouds are unique in that they are made up of ice crystals, whereas most other clouds contain condensed droplets of liquid water. When most people think of clouds, they picture these liquid water clouds, which exist closer to the Earth's surface and are responsible for rainstorms and other weather, Cziczo said.

Like all clouds, water clouds need particles upon which to condense. Recent research has shown that these , sulfates (chemicals emitted by volcanoes and human activity) and other organic materials, Cziczo said. As this study shows, however, cirrus clouds need very specific particles upon which to nucleate and freeze.

Analyzing chemicals within high-altitude ice crystals is no easy task. To do so, Cziczo and his colleagues partnered with NASA to use two of its research airplanes. Up in the air, they used a device called a counterflow virtual impactor. This device acts like a hair dryer, Cziczo said.

"The inlet flows gas out the front of the plane. This stops the small particles we don't want to sample and only lets in the big ice crystals, he explained. You can imagine that if you drop a Ping-Pong ball on a hair dryer, the flow of air stops the Ping-Pong ball. But if you drop a bowling ball on the hair dryer, it has no effect. Same thing for particles versus ice crystals."

The warm air then melted the ice, and the researchers analyzed the particles using a mass spectrometer they took up in the airplane with them, Cziczo said.

Email or follow him onor . Follow us , or . Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Jets cut quarterback Tim Tebow on Monday, ending his ill-conceived stint in the Big Apple and leaving one of the most hyped players in the National Football League (NFL) facing an uncertain future.

The Jets notified Tebow of their decision to waive him after just one season at a voluntary team workout on Monday morning.

"We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow," Jets' head coach Rex Ryan said in a statement. "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped.

"Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason. We wish him the best moving forward."

The decision to release Tebow came just two days after the Jets acquired West Virginia University quarterback Geno Smith at the 78th annual NFL Draft.

The Jets already had five quarterbacks, including former first-round draft pick Mark Sanchez, who struggled so badly last season that he lost his starting spot, prompting speculation that someone had to go.

It was little surprise that it was Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy as most outstanding U.S. college football player in 2007, that got the chop.

His tenure with the Jets was brief and hugely unsuccessful, both for him and the team. One New York newspaper described it as a circus.

Tebow, a devout Christian whose public displays of religiosity polarized public opinion, did not make any public comment about his axing but did post a Bible verse on his Twitter account.

"Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding...in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight," he tweeted.

CULT FIGURE

Tebow had previously been with Denver, taking the Broncos on an improbable run to the 2011 playoffs, despite criticism and reservations about his ability as a passer.

He had quickly become a cult figure. Deeply religious and with a clean-cut image, he became a magnet for sponsors, signing a range of massive endorsement deals, which earned him an estimated $4 million a year.

His jerseys were among the biggest sellers in the NFL and his trademark touchdown celebration, where he kneeled down in prayer, became known as "Tebowing."

In early 2012, the Broncos signed future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning after he had become a free agent, and traded Tebow to the Jets.

The Jets said they planned to use Tebow on special teams and 'wildcat' plays, as a complement to Sanchez, but the experiment failed and Tebow-Mania never quite took off in the New York.

Tebow, 25, spent most of each game stuck on the bench and the Jets, who missed the playoffs, were ridiculed for acquiring him and not playing him when Sanchez struggled.

Tebow's immediate future remains uncertain. Most NFL pundits said he was unlikely to be claimed in the short term because of his high salary, but once he clears waivers, he would be able to sign with any team as a free agent.

He had previously linked with the Jacksonville Jaguars, his hometown team, but the Jaguars had ruled that out. Other teams have said they might interested in him, in a different position from quarterback.

FINANCIALLY SECURE

Another option could be the Canadian Football League, although he would not be guaranteed a starting spot there either.

"If he wants to come to Canada he would be in the same situation as the one he was in with New York," Jim Popp, the general manager of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, told TSN.

Financially, Tebow's future looks secure. Of his five corporate sponsors, three did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and two said they were undeterred by the quarterback's departure from the Jets.

" is not based solely on football and Tim exceeds his status as a football player," said Steve Wymer, a spokesperson for TiVo.

"Hopefully he'll have a better season this coming year than he did last year, since this clearly this has been a crazy season with the NY Jets."

Lan Kennedy-Davis, the chief executive of SOUL electronics, said her company was "100 percent behind Tim Tebow regardless of his team."

"We support Tim, we like Tim, and he's our ambassador because he stands for greatness - not just in football but in what he does in his life," she said.

(Additional reporting by Atossa Abrahamian in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama launched a campaign to promote his signature 2010 healthcare overhaul on Friday in the face of harsh criticism from congressional Republicans who say the program will raise costs and hurt hiring.

"If you're one of the tens of millions who don't have health insurance, beginning this fall you'll finally be able to compare and buy quality, affordable private plans that work for you," he said at an event at the White House.

"If you've already got health insurance, this is just enhancement. And if you don't, you're going to be able to get it," he said.

Ahead of the Mothers' Day holiday on Sunday, the president focused his remarks on how the plan could benefit women, who the administration believes will be less stuck on partisan objections to the plan and provide support that will make what has become known as "Obamacare" a success.

"Mothers are the number one validator for the young and uninsured and will be critical in the effort to encourage their kids to enroll for insurance in the fall," a White House official said.

Republicans say the law will raise the costs of healthcare for all Americans, spawn a welter of new regulatory burdens on businesses and inhibit hiring.

"There are many women in their 20s and 30s who will be unable to afford the law's massive premium increases," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday. "And there are many mothers who won't be able to get by if their employers cut their hours due to Obamacare. Or if they lose their jobs because of it," the Kentucky Republican said.

Obama aides plan to use the same micro-targeting strategies that helped the president win re-election in November to sign up enough enrollees. Their outreach efforts will be central to the success of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which aims to bring health insurance at subsidized rates to millions of uninsured Americans.

Administration officials hope to sign up 7 million people nationwide during an enrollment period that begins October 1 and runs through the end of March. They say they are zeroing in on an estimated 2.7 million healthy adults aged 18 to 25.

One-third of these people live in three states: California, Florida, and Texas, officials said. The administration plans to go into communities to identify people who are eligible to try to persuade them to enroll in the insurance plan.

The White House on Thursday announced a $150 million initiative to fund the hiring and training of thousands of workers who will go through community health centers to help people obtain insurance.

But political resistance to the plan is high, and public opinion polls still show disapproval outweighing approval of the healthcare law.

The fate the of healthcare plan is expected to have a major bearing on the 2014 midterm congressional elections. If Americans embrace Obamacare, Democrats could benefit, while rejection could provide an electoral boost to Republicans.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to repeal or cut funding for the law three dozen times and intends to vote again next week to repeal the law. The measure is unlikely to be go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

White House aides say they believe that once people start to receive benefits from expanded healthcare coverage, support for the law will grow and it will become harder for its opponents to argue for its repeal.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Vicki Allen and Paul Simao)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The more than $40 million that will go to Enron victims under a sentencing agreement with Jeffrey Skilling this week will be used to revive a depleted victims' fund, a Justice Department official said.

Spokesman Peter Carr said on Thursday the money will go to the Enron Fair Fund for investor victims, which finished paying out more than $500 million last July.

Skilling agreed to allow the funds to be released as part of a deal announced on Wednesday under which his sentence will be cut by as much as 10 years. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2006 for his role in one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history. A federal appeals court upheld Skilling's conviction but found the original sentence too harsh.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston, who must approve the deal, is scheduled to resentence Skilling on June 21.

About $450 million was paid into the Enron Fair Fund through corporate and individual settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Department of Justice contributed another $65 million recovered through federal forfeiture actions.

Investors who purchased Enron securities between January 20, 1998, and November 7, 2001, may be eligible for money from the fund, according to the website of the Enron Victim Trust, which distributes money from the Enron Fair Fund.

The more than $40 million that Skilling will contribute to victims pales in comparison to the amount of money he has spent on legal fees. Skilling's legal defense reportedly had cost some $70 million by 2006, the year he was sentenced. He has been involved in costly appeals since then.

Once ranked seventh on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. companies, Enron went bankrupt on December 2, 2001, in an accounting scandal that remains one of the largest and most infamous U.S. corporate meltdowns. Thousands of workers lost their jobs and retirement savings.

The case is U.S. v. Skilling, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 04-cr-00025.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

The small Alpine country, once a model of socialist economy, is racing to convince investors it has a credible strategy for raising the funds to stay solvent and avoid becoming the fifth euro country after Cyprus to ask for financial aid.

In addition to the hike in the country's sales tax from 20 percent to 22 percent, the government said it will partly privatize 15 state-run companies including the country's second-largest bank, Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor (NKBM); communications operator Telekom Slovenija; airline Adria Airways; Ljubljana airport and Elan ski manufacturer.

The austerity plan has to be approved by Slovenia's parliament and will be handed to the European Union's executive arm, the Commission, which is expected to discuss it this month.

Slovenia is a member of the 17-strong group of EU countries that use the euro. The eurozone has been struggling with a three-year crisis over too much government debt which has already seen Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus receive emergency loans. Slovenia is keen not to become the fifth member of that bailout band.

At the center of Slovenia's crisis are five state-controlled banks which have an estimated 7 billion euros of bad loans on their books. Slovenia needs to support these banks to avoid a collapse of its banking system. To avoid heaping more debt on to its accounts, the government is introducing the austerity measures.

Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said that the government decided to choose the state tax hike, and will introduce further taxes next year, claiming the measures will have the lowest negative impact on the economic growth.

"We are aware that tax increases won't have a positively impact on the economy and the recovery, but we have opted for the least harmful option," Bratusek said. "I believe this will satisfy the European Commission."

Earlier in the week, Economy Minister Stanko Stepisnik had said that the government would propose a new temporary "crisis tax" on all incomes. Bratusek said that the income tax would probably be introduced at the end of this year, and added that the government is in the process of negotiating the curbing of wages in the public sector.

Finance minister Uros Cufer said public finances would require additional austerity measures of around 1 billion euros. The economy has been in recession since 2011 and unemployment stands at 13.5 percent. Slovenia's economic output is forecast to shrink 2 percent this year and 0.1 percent in 2014, according to the Commission.

Rating agency Moody's last week cut Slovenia's rating by two notches to "junk." Despite this, the government was able to raise 3.5 billion euros from international bond markets last week, but at relatively high interest rates. Economists say the funds could buy Slovenia time, but will not solve the Balkan country's main economic and financial problems.

___

Associated Press correspondent Dusan Stojanovic contributed.

As a result of this accident we will conduct a thorough review of this discipline and adopt any appropriate changes to future X Games.

For 18 years we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts. Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain. Caleb was a four-time X Games medalist attempting a move he has landed several times previously.

Moore initially walked away from the crash seemingly intact, but he was hospitalized later with a concussion and bleeding around his heart. Following surgery, he sufferedand family members began to expect the worst. "The prognosis is not good at all," his grandfather told The Denver Post. "It's almost certain he's not going to make it." 

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MUMBAI (Reuters) - In a street next to Mumbai's biggest mall, in a suburb teeming with people even at midnight, is a building that at first glance looks like an abandoned warehouse.

The decrepit exterior hides the set of what may be one of India's most ambitious TV shows yet - the domestic version of the U.S. television hit action series "24", which its makers hope will revolutionize Indian TV.

The Indian "24" is a novel concept in an industry where daily soaps reign. It will be the first seasonal fiction show on TV, one of the most expensive TV shows ever produced and the first to have a Bollywood star in the lead.

Anil Kapoor, 53 and best known for his turn as the talk show host in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire", will be the Indian counterpart of Jack Bauer, the suave police officer who is part of an elite anti-terrorism unit. Kiefer Sutherland starred in the original.

It is with this mix of Bollywood stardom and the terrorism theme that the show's makers are hoping to woo Indian audiences.

"We are giving them their star that they love and we are giving them subject matter which is close to them, which is India, patriotism, terrorism, crime, thriller and family emotions," said director Abhinay Deo. "Where can this go wrong?"

Kapoor, who is also the show's producer, played a Middle Eastern leader in the eighth season of the American series in 2010 and was convinced he had to bring the "discipline and professionalism" of U.S. television into India.

Aware that they are venturing into untested waters, the show's makers are paying great attention to detail. The main set or the CTU (counter-terrorism unit) is a replica of the one in the U.S. series, complete with newspaper clippings, Venn diagrams on softboards and huge monitoring screens.

On a recent day, director Deo and his assistants were debating how one of the characters should grip a syringe, attempting several different shots until they were satisfied.

This is unusual for an Indian television show, where the pressure of producing daily episodes often means little thought is given to characters or storylines.

"An international format is only a starting point, the key is how it is adapted to India," said Shailesh Kapoor, CEO of media insights firm Ormax Media.

If it does work, Indian television may be tempted to follow the West's lead, sticking to seasonal formats and focusing on smart writing and better production values, they said.

"When 24' becomes a hit, be assured that every CEO of every broadcasting company will be on a flight to L.A. to pick up formats," said Raj Nayak, CEO of the Colors channel which will air the series later this year, perhaps as early as August.

But it is not going to be easy. Nine of the top 10 fiction shows on Indian television are daily soaps with a crime thriller sneaking in at only number ten, according to a recent report by consultancy KPMG.

"My audience is the masses - the Hindi heartland," says Nayak. "They haven't seen this, for them it'll be a novelty and something new."

Still, it's a gamble, and the show's makers know they have to get it right the first time. Bollywood star Kapoor, who has starred in more than 100 films in three decades, may not get another chance to prove himself on TV, and chances of a second season are slim if the first doesn't make the cut.

"You stick your neck out and I have stuck my neck out," says Kapoor. "I am not playing it safe, I am playing the lead. And I'm a movie star."

(Editing by Tony Tharakan and Elaine Lies)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Aereo Inc, the online television venture backed by Barry Diller, asked a federal court on Monday to block CBS Corp from suing it in new markets where it plans to expand.

The startup company brought the complaint in Manhattan federal court, seeking a ruling that it does not violate CBS's copyright.

Aereo said its complaint is a response to threats by CBS executives to sue the company in any jurisdiction where it makes its technology available to consumers. Aereo's service currently is available in the New York area, and the company announced plans in April to expand into Boston.

The complaint quotes CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves as saying that "we'll follow" Aereo and "we'll sue them again" in the different markets where it launches.

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said in a statement, "These public relations and legal maneuvers do not change the fundamentally illegal nature of Aereo's supposed business."

McClintock said that "wherever Aereo attempts to operate, there will be vigorous challenges to its illegal business model."

The TV industry is concerned that Aereo, which allows subscribers to live-stream broadcasts of TV channels, could threaten its traditional business model. The service uses large numbers of TV antennas to capture broadcast signals for its subscribers.

Aereo does not pay licensing fees to broadcasters, while companies such as Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc pay billions in retransmission consent fees to broadcasters.

Last month, a U.S. appeals court in New York declined a request by broadcasters, including Walt Disney Co's ABC and Comcast's NBCUniversal, to force Aereo to discontinue its service until litigation between the companies is resolved.

Because CBS and other networks are already seeking a nationwide permanent injunction against Aereo, any further lawsuits would be duplicative, Aereo said in its complaint.

"The fact that CBS did not prevail in their efforts to enjoin Aereo in their existing federal lawsuit does not entitle them to a do-over in another jurisdiction," Virginia Lam, a spokeswoman for Aereo, said in a statement. "We are hopeful that any such efforts to commence duplicative lawsuits to try to seek a different outcome will be rejected by the courts."

The case is Aereo Inc v. CBS Broadcasting et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-3013.

(Additional reporting by Erin Geiger Smith; editing by Martha Graybow and John Wallace)

In the distance, massive tankers pull up to a half-century-old refinery that processes much of the oil that earns Venezuela more than $100 billion a year.

"It doesn't help us at all," Boet, 58, says as a blackout snuffs the lights in his shop in this Caribbean coastal town. He closes before dusk. Too many robbers.

The oil flowing from the El Palito refinery sells for more than five times what it cost when President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999. Yet when Chavez died in March he left Venezuela's cash cow, its state-run oil company, in such dire straits that analysts say $100-a-barrel oil may no longer be enough to keep the country afloat barring a complete overhaul of a deteriorating petroleum industry.

The situation is more urgent than ever, analysts say. The price of crude has slumped in recent weeks and Chavez's heir, Nicolas Maduro, appears to have done little to address declining production, billions in debt and infrastructure deficiencies that have caused major accidents including a blaze that killed at least 42 people at Venezuela's largest refinery last year.

Maduro has retained Chavez's oil minister and the head of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., Rafael Ramirez. And he appears intent on continuing to send cut-rate oil to members of the 18-nation Petrocaribe alliance, for which Venezuela is hosting a summit on Saturday.

Ramirez said Friday that Maduro would use the meeting to propose creating a special economic zone for group members.

PDVSA, which accounts for 96 percent of the country's export earnings, no longer "generates enough income to cover all its costs and finance its commitments," said Pedro Luis Rodriguez Sosa, an energy expert at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Administration in Caracas.

He said that "you can see PDVSA is in trouble" at the $100-a-barrel level because of the many millions lost to gasoline subsidies and spending on domestic social spending and PDVSA's use as a "geopolitical tool" to maintain regional alliances.

Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves but PDVSA's production, earnings and income all appear to be on a downward slide and its debts to suppliers rose 35 percent. Its debt to the Central Bank of Venezuela reached $26.19 billion last year, a nearly eight-fold increase in two years.

The government makes no apologies. It says it is employing the country's most important natural resource for the good of the people and promises increased production and revenues in the immediate future.

Ramirez said that PDVSA's efforts remained focused on developing the remote Orinoco belt, site of the world's biggest oil reserves, with the aid of oil firms from China, Russia, the U.S., Italy, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan and Spain. Venezuela hopes to lift overall production to some 3.32 million barrels a day, 200,000 more than last year.

"We're in a process of trying to attract investment in dollars other than ours," Ramirez said, assuring reporters that PDVSA would work with private investors to not take on more debt to make new investment.

Outside experts, however, are deeply skeptical. They say PDVSA is badly mismanaged and that even a radical overhaul would take years to show results.

Rather than reinvesting enough profits in exploration and maintenance, Chavez dedicated oil revenues to social spending such as building hundreds of thousands of homes and free medical clinics for the poor, they say. Last year PDVSA said it spent $28.83 billion, nearly a quarter of its income, on various state programs.

PDVSA also loses billions subsidizing gasoline for Venezuelan drivers, who pay less to fill up their tanks than people anywhere else in the world.

"The government of Venezuela today uses PDVSA as its petty cash box to lead populist social programs," said Jorge R. Pinon, associate director of the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the University of Texas, Austin. "Whatever capital is left in PDVSA is being mismanaged, mismanaged because they're just not focused on running the company. ... They're focused on building hospitals and schools."

On top of that, state oil company PDVSA dedicates 42 percent of its production to favored partners in the Caribbean and to consumption inside Venezuela, where gasoline is almost free, which means it can sell less than 60 percent at market price.

Ramirez said that a rise in daily domestic oil consumption to 650,000 barrels this year is expected to drive down exports by 7.8 percent to 2.36 million barrels a day, inevitably damaging revenues for PDSVA and the broader Venezuelan budget.

The alliance's Caribbean and Central American member nations receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually in deeply discounted oil, part of Chavez's bid to project Venezuela's influence in the region. Socialist ally Cuba is the largest recipient.

Maduro made his first major foreign trip as president to Cuba last weekend, recommitting to sending it some 130,000 barrels of oil a day.

Now, Maduro must wrestle with the consequences of Chavez's energy and economic policies, which included a campaign spending spree last year ahead of Chavez's re-election.

In order to control capital flight, Chavez imposed controls that require any business that wants to import goods to purchase dollars directly from the government, which rations them out in relatively small amounts at an artificially set official exchange rate.

Even with gasoline at roughly $100 a barrel over the last six months, the government hasn't been meeting the demand for dollars. That's created frequent and worsening shortages of staple goods such as flour, sugar and cooking oil.

And despite promises to increase the flow of dollars it pumps into the economy, independent economists don't see how it can be pulled off. Crude prices fell about 10 percent over the last three weeks and analysts say they could stabilize at $90 a barrel.

At the same time, official figures show Venezuela produced 3 million barrels a day last year, a 95,000 barrel-a-day decline from 2011. Independent organizations such as OPEC estimate Venezuela's production could actually be around 2.7 million barrels a day.

Ramirez has played down questions about the company's performance, and PDVSA says it invested billions in exploration last year, drilled 2,010 wells, more than double the previous year, and projects increased production to reach 4 million barrels a day in 2014 and to 6 million by 2019.

Venezuelans such as Zaida Eleonora Mejicano are skeptical of such talk and are impatient to see the benefits.

Mejicano used to travel around Venezuela buying gold jewelry that she resold in Moron, her hometown. Now, she says, she's amazed by the deterioration of the quality of life. She can't travel anymore for fear of being robbed.

"You can't get anything here. Here women have to wait in line four, five even six hours for a stick of butter," she said. "I've always worked hard but now one's afraid to even travel. Things are really ugly here."

___

AP writer Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

Japan's leading maker of liquid crystal displays had a 500 billion yen ($5.1 billion) net loss for the year, worse than the 450 billion yen deficit it forecast in November, the sources said on condition that they not be identified.

Its operating profit for the second half of its business year was 20 billion yen, compared with the company's forecast for 13.8 billion yen, the sources added.

The company needed a second-half operating profit to allow its lenders to justify a bail-out that rescued it from failing last year.

The write-off of excess capacity, however, highlights softer demand from Apple, which has seen its profit growth slow dramatically from more than 60 percent over the past five years to a projected rate of less than 5 percent for the next decade.

At the start of the year, Sharp was forced to curtail production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple's iPad, sources told Reuters in January.

That has stepped up the urgency for Sharp to find new customers and uses for its leading-technology displays and may make it harder for the company to convince investors and lenders it remains a viable company.

Sharp, which will announce its results for latest business year on May 14, said in statement through the Tokyo Stock Exchange that it had not released the earnings number, without commenting directly on whether it would report a bigger loss than forecast.

In addition to the write-offs, the company is also taking a charge to put aside cash for possible fines from a display price-fixing investigation in Europe, the sources said.

The expanded net loss was first reported in the Nikkei business daily.

The news sent Sharp's shares falling as much as 5.6 percent on Wednesday to 319 yen, their lowest in nearly three weeks, compared with a 0.2 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei average. The shares have lost more than half their value since the start of last year as the company's troubles mounted, while the benchmark has risen 63 percent.

Sharp in October received a $4.4 billion bailout from banks including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi Financial Group in return for mortgaging nearly all its factories and offices in Japan and pledging to cut 10,000 jobs.

It has since raised additional cash by selling equity stakes to Qualcomm Inc, which in December agreed to invest as much as $120 million in the Japanese company, and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, which in March said it would inject $103 million in return for a 3 percent stake.

It is also in talks to offload its overseas television assembly plants. But with a 200 billion yen convertible bond falling due in September, that money plus the investments from Qualcomm and Samsung will not be enough to cover its financing needs, leading analysts to speculate it will need to find fresh funding sources.

($1 = 97.4100 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Reiji Murai; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)