Early next year CNN International will launch a live daily broadcast from a new media center in Abu Dhabi. The as-yet-titled CNN International program will be the network's first regularly scheduled program from the region. In addition to the daily, prime time newscast, a new production center in the Abu Dhabi Media Zone will provide infrastructure for expanded newsgathering throughout the Middle East.

"Our UAE expansion is one of our boldest editorial undertakings of recent years and one that builds on our existing newsgathering heritage in the region," said CNNI's managing director Tony Maddox, in a press release.

This is the latest in a series of global initiatives for CNN. Last November the network hired 50 people including 12 new correspondent positions across Africa and India. CNN also announced plans to open new editorial operations in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Santiago, Chile.

• Related: The NYTimes' Tim Arango writes about CNN's presence in the Media Zone along with other western media companies including HarperCollins, Random House, the BBC, The Financial Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.