SOFIA, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Sweden-based international broadcasting company Modern Times Group (MTG) has signed an agreement to acquire all of Bulgaria's second private TV channel Nova Television for 620 million euros (966 million dollars), Nova said on Thursday.

TOKYO, July 15, 2008 (AFP) - Japanese prosecutors on Tuesday charged the founder of the failed language school Nova for alleged embezzlement, reports said.Prosecutors in the western city of Osaka indicted Nozomu Sahashi, 56, the founder of what was Japan's largest chain of language schools until last year, on suspicion of embezzlement, Jiji Press reported, without citing sources.

ICHIKAWA, Japan, Nov 8, 2007 (AFP) - For years Japan has welcomed young English teachers such as Kristen Moon with open arms to fill its many language schools but when industry giant Nova collapsed they found themselves on their own.

TOKYO, Oct 26, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's largest language school, Nova, filed Friday for bankruptcy protection, leaving thousands of foreign teachers without work or wages.

Nova's once ubiquitous blue-and-yellow signs, which famously advertised an experience akin to 'a study abroad trip' in the middle of Japan's crowded cities, were being taken down as the schools shuttered their doors.

The chain of schools has taught English and other foreign languages to hundreds of thousands of Japanese ranging from businesspeople to pensioners looking for a hobby.

TOKYO, Oct 26, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's largest language school, Nova, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, four months after it was ordered to halt part of its operations for insufficient refunds to students who had cancelled contracts.

Nova 'filed for protection from creditors under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law,' said a spokesman for the Osaka District Court in western Japan, adding that the court had granted the request.