Laura Bush in Middle East

Laura Bush helping raise breast cancer awareness in Saudi Arabia. Yahoo News:

First lady Laura Bush helped launch a screening facility in Saudi Arabia Tuesday as part of a U.S.-Saudi initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in the kingdom where doctors struggle to break long-held taboos about the disease.

She met with one doctor, a mother, who had suffered from breast cancer:

Al-Amoudi, a gynecologist, said about 70 percent of breast cancer cases in Saudi Arabia will not be reported until they are at a very late stage, compared with 30 percent or less in the U.S. She also said 30 percent of Saudi patients are under 40 years old.

Al-Amoudi said many of the hurdles in Saudi Arabia are not medical. For instance, until recently, it was widely considered socially improper to refer to the disease by name in the kingdom, she said.

Nearly 20% of women with cancer in Saudi Arabia have breast cancer.The woman pictured with her is a doctor. Imagine having to work all day in an outfit like that.

Women still can not vote or drive in Saudi Arabia. The First Lady is on to Kuwait next where she will meet with "women democrat reformers, legal advocates, and business leaders". Women were allowed to vote last year for the first time in the constitutional emirate and make up 60% of the electorate, which has yet to translate into political power. In related news, in Pakistan, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt as she returned from exile to run for office again. Bhutto was educated at Harvard and Oxford and is a proponent of democracy and women's full participation is society.