CNN Worldwide has announced it is adding three new international correspondents, in Afghanistan, China and the United Arab Emirates.

This brings the CNN total of international newsgathering locations to 33, according to the release.

Atia Abawi will be based in Afghanistan, Stan Grant in the UAE and Emily Chang (pictured) will be the network's second correspondent in Beijing.

• Earlier: Ivan Watson rejoins CNN

Click continued to see the release...

CNN Worldwide will add three new international correspondents in Afghanistan, China and the United Arab Emirates, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering.

Over the past 12 months, CNN has appointed more than a dozen correspondents in seven new locations as part of an aggressive content ownership strategy. These latest hires boost CNN's international newsgathering locations to 33.

"The resources available to CNN's international newsgathering team have never been more robust," Khosravi said. "By adding correspondents in these three strategic areas, CNN underscores its international newsgathering heritage."

In Kabul, Afghanistan, Atia Abawi will serve as correspondent responsible for covering the country and the on-going war there. Abawi, a former assignment editor and producer for CNN's international desk in Atlanta, joined CNN in 2004 and has worked on a number of stories including the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the Afghanistan-Korean hostage situation and Youssif, the young Iraqi boy burned by insurgents in Iraq.

Stan Grant returns to CNN after spending two years in his native Australia and takes up the new post of UAE-based correspondent. He will serve to cover both the UAE and the surrounding region from his base in CNN's new Abu Dhabi newsgathering and production center slated to open later this year. Previously, Grant served as a Hong Kong-based anchor for CNN International and later as the network's Beijing-based correspondent, where he gained recognition for his exclusive coverage of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami.

Emily Chang, who joins John Vause as the second correspondent in Beijing, boosts CNN's presence in China at a time when many media outlets are reducing their coverage in the post-Olympic climate. Chang has already reported on a variety of stories including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the tainted milk scandal and the effects of the global financial crisis on China.

Over the past year, CNN has also announced the opening of newsgathering operations in Chennai, India; Lagos, Nigeria; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; and Santiago, Chile, where CNN Chile launched late last year. In addition, CNN has placed correspondents in Istanbul, Turkey; Islamabad, Pakistan; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, Great Britain and Tokyo, Japan.