In what is set to be a landmark agreement for gender equality, the EU is to vote on legislation where companies will face mandatory quotas to ensure women have at least 40 percent of seats on corporate boards. Annette Young talks to Carlien Scheele from the European Institute for Gender Studies on what it means for businesses across the European bloc. Also as the Taliban continues to ban schooling for girls aged over 11, we meet the Afghan people risking all to ensure girls receive an education. Plus the story of Viola Smith, the first female professional jazz drummer who fought for greater recognition of women in the industry.

According to the United Nations, some 23 million people are suffering from acute hunger n Afghanistan, including 10 million children who urgently need help in order to survive. Since the start of the year, humanitarian organisations have been able to help 8.2 million people by providing food assistance, including emergency food rations and supplements for breastfeeding mothers and their infants. But this aid is dwindling fast and the situation, which has continually worsened since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, is reaching a critical stage. Our team reports from Herat, in north-western Afghanistan.

Swimming's world governing body will only allow transgender athletes who transitioned before age 12 to compete in elite women's competitions. Some support a desire for inclusion, others say it would make races unfair.

Markus Potzel will be the United Nations' new deputy representative to Afghanistan. Between 2014 and 2016 he was Germany's ambassador to Kabul.

The sport's authority cited "welfare, legal and reputational risk" for the decision. Over the weekend swimming's world governing body FINA voted to restrict transgender athletes in elite women's competitions.

A violent attack on several women in northern China earlier this month has raised questions over gender-based violence in the country. CCTV footage from a restaurant in the city of Tangshan showed a man getting rebuffed after he put his hand on the back of a woman. He then slapped her, then with other men beat the group of women before punching, kicking and dragging them outdoors. For more on women's safety and their rights in China, we talk to Professor Maria Jaschok from the University of Oxford.

An official said 1,000 people died after a magnitude 6 earthquake hit the mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan. The death toll is likely to rise as search efforts continue.

A large earthquake that struck Afghanistan Wednesday has killed hundreds of people. What caused it?

Rescue teams continue searching for survivors after Wednesday's deadly earthquake which killed at least 1,000 people. Afghanistan's leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, warned that the number of casualties could rise.

The powerful tremor has killed more than 1,000 people, and the death toll is likely to rise manifold. People need aid urgently, but with the Taliban in power, international help for quake victims is a complicated affair.

Carson Pickett became the first player with a limb difference to play for the United States women's soccer team on Tuesday.

Activists and doctors have successfully had abortion bans temporarily blocked in several US states. In Florida, the presiding judge said that the state ban violated a woman's right to privacy.