CNN Worldwide is expanding its international newsgathering operations, hiring more correspondents worldwide, opening a regional newsgathering hub in UAE, and investing in a London-based digital production unit, CNN’s International Newsource, and in-house wire operations. New operations are also planned for the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Belgium, Kenya, Nigeria and Poland. In Asia, CNN’s regional newsgathering hub in Hong Kong is adding staff as well as assigning additional correspondents in Beijing, Jakarta and Pakistan. Also, CNN’s Tokyo bureau is taking on reporting duties in South Korea. CNN’s new ops in UAE will provide increased programming and reporting including business coverage. The Johannesburg bureau will get two new correspondents while the London and Istanbul bureaus will each add one. The network’s services for online and new platforms will be bolstered by a London-based digital production unit with additional staffing in Hong Kong and Atlanta. Working with the TV operations, the team will provide content for CNN International, CNNArabic.com, CNNMobile and new CNN services on TV-to-broadband sites. CNN’s International Newsource operation will expand to provide additional editorial, content and newsgathering services to worldwide affiliates, while its in-house wire service will boost staffing. Moreover, CNN Worldwide has established a ‘hub’ within 3D virtual world, Second Life, to report news on events occurring in the virtual world known as ‘in-world’. News will be generated by ‘residents’ of Second Life through citizen journalism called ‘SL iReports’, an extension of the network’s real world initiative, iReports, which features user-generated content submitted from cell phones, computers cameras and other broadcast equipment. CNN’s in-world hub includes a news desk where weekly editorial discussions on SL iReports are held each Wednesday at 6 a.m. (HKT), and an amphitheatre to showcase in-world events, which include training sessions and appearances by CNN anchors and correspondents.