Odds

DURHAM, N.C. - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was set to undergo surgery Monday at Duke University Medical Center for his cancerous brain tumor and then faces chemotherapy and radiation treatment, his office said.

Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year.

There are about 300 million Americans, so the odds of being diagnosed as such would be about -- in a year -- 1 in 33,000...

According to the U.S. National Weather Service, the odds of being struck by lightning -- in your lifetime -- are 1 in 5,000. The odds of being struck in any given year: 1 in 700,000.

Which is all well and good unless you are the 1.

PARIS - Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most influential and enduring designers of the 20th century, empowered women by reinventing pants as a sleek, elegant staple of the female wardrobe.

Saint Laurent, 71, died Sunday night at his Paris home after a yearlong battle with brain cancer, said Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's close friend and business partner for four decades.