MUMBAI: CNN has appointed Atika Shubert as a CNN’s Tokyo correspondent.

Shubert will be replacing Rebecca Mackinnon.

Her latest job portfolio include responsibility for the global news network’s coverage of Japan

Shubert joined CNN in 2000 and covered news from the Jakarta bureau. Prior to that, she was a correspondent for the Washington Post and the New Zealand Herald in Indonesia.

In association with the present Jakarta bureau head Maria Ressa, Shubert has also covered major news events in Indonesia, including the Bali bombing attack in 2002, the fall of Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid and the inauguration of the current President Megawati Sukarnoputri, East Timor’s transition to independence, the resurgence of the Free Aceh separatist movement, the religious conflict in Ambon, the fall of Indonesian former President Suharto as well as the student reform movement. She has also contributed reports from the Philippines and Singapore, says a company release.

Since she started reporting from Tokyo on attachment from Indonesia, in January 2004, Shubert has already covered several major news stories including the controversial deployment of Japan’s self defense forces to Iraq, the Japanese hostage case in Iraq, and the verdict of Shoko Asahara, the criminal mastermind behind the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo.

Shubert graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Tufts University in Boston and speaks Bahasa Indonesia.