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Dixie Chicks have the No. 1 U.S. album

NEW YORK, May 31 (UPI) -- Country music radio may be cool toward The Dixie Chicks, but the Texas group Wednesday scored its third No. 1 U.S. album with "Taking the Long Way."

Music fans have apparently forgiven or forgotten the dustup following the band's disparaging remarks about U.S. President George Bush and the Iraqi war in 2003, because "Taking the Long Way" sold 526,000 copies in its first week, placing it atop both the Billboard 200 and Country Albums charts.

Disney's "High School Musical" soundtrack sat at No. 2 in its 20th week on the Billboard 200 followed by "American Idol Season 5: Encores" at No. 3.

Angels & Airwaves' debut, "We Don't Need to Whisper," flew onto the Billboard 200 chart at No. 4 and entered the Top Rock Albums chart at No. 1.

The No. 1 album for the past two weeks -- the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium" -- slipped to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with Rascal Flatts holding onto the No. 6 spot with "Me and My Gang."

No. 7 was Don Omar's "King of Kings" followed by the compilation, "WWE: Wreckless Intent," at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The Top 10 was filled out by Tool's "10,000 Days" and Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts."

Overall CD sales were up 8 percent from the previous week at 9.9 million units but lagging 7 percent behind the same period last year. Overall 2006 sales stood at 222.4 million, 3 percent behind 2005 sales.

Couric bids 'Today' teary farewell

NEW YORK, May 31 (UPI) -- "Today" show co-anchor Katie Couric said a teary goodbye to her NBC colleagues in New York Wednesday calling them "lifelong friends."

Couric described her emotions during her final appearance on the Peacock Network after 15 years with "Today," as "happy, sad and completely out of control," People magazine reported.

She is leaving to take over the anchor duties for the "CBS Evening News" and will be replaced in the fall by Meredith Vieira, who is vacating her seat on ABC's "The View" for "Today."

Couric's longtime "Today" partner, Matt Lauer, started out Wednesday's three-hour tribute with the words: "Farewell friend."

A number of notables from politicians to entertainers taped messages to Couric including former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sting and Julie Andrews.

"Dateline's" Stone Phillips serenaded her at the piano and weatherman Al Roker teared up during tributes to Couric's late husband and sister, who both died of cancer.

Couric's own farewell was not without emotion as she noted, "They're not just coworkers. They're lifelong friends."

"And I know I'll never have a partner like you," she told Lauer, "because I'll never be working with a partner again."

Voltaire letters auctioned in Paris

PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- A collector paid $750,000 at an auction in Paris for 26 letters sent by French philosopher Voltaire to Russia's Empress Catherine the Great.

The letters written between 1768 and 1777 far exceeded Sotheby's estimated selling price of $385,000 and set a world record for letters from the period, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Catherine II ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796 and considered herself a "philosopher on the throne," keeping in contact with several great philosophers, the report said.

Voltaire's letters discussed the partition of Poland and Catherine's first war with the Ottoman Empire. In one of the letters, Voltaire calls ruler of the Ottoman Empire "fat and ignorant".

A first edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses" sold during the same auction for $148,000.

Feisty Taylor disproves tabloid reports

LOS ANGELES, May 31 (UPI) -- Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor appeared on national television to offer proof that she is neither dying or suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

In response to recent tabloid reports about her health, the British-born actress asked CNN's Larry King Tuesday night, "Do I look or sound like I have Alzheimer's? ... Oh, come on, do I look like I'm dying?" the New York Post reported Wednesday.

Taylor, 74, also defended her longtime friend, Michael Jackson, 47, who fled the United States for Bahrain after being acquitted of child molestation charges in California last June.

"We're very much alike. We both had horrible childhoods," Taylor said. She also said she doubted he would ever again take up residence in the United States.

"Really, why should he?" she said. "He's been treated like dirt here."