SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- While Australia said goodbye to 2005 with mass celebrations and increased security, countries around the world prepared for the parties.

The Australian newspaper reports 1 million people were in Sydney Harbor for a New Year's Eve fireworks show and partying in 70 degree weather.

Fireworks lit up the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge.

Seventeen-hundred extra police were on duty to prevent terrorism and race riots that plagued the beach recently.

Parties and fireworks are set in the world's metropolises of Hong Kong, London and New York City.

A symbolic 108 strikes of bells and drums were scheduled to toll in Beijing for the Buddhist world peace tradition.

Extra police were out in Indonesia after a deadly bombing in a market Saturday morning.

Police in Bangladesh arrested 100 people they said were planning violence.

Indian authorities were on alert after a New Year's Eve bomb threat on a hotel.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was urging citizens to celebrate the new year despite the shadow of the July 7 subway and bus bombings that killed more than 50 people.

Bush confident in facing 2006 challenges

CRAWFORD, Texas, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush on Saturday recapped 2005 and stated his confidence the United States could meet any challenges that 2006 brings.

"2005 has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world and a more prosperous America," said Bush in his final radio address of the year.

He reviewed items the White House has been touting as positives for the administration over the past year, including political gains in Iraq and the performance of the U.S. economy.

"Thanks to our tax relief, spending restraint and the hard work of the American people, our economy remained the envy of the world," he said.

Bush called for continued efforts by Congress in those areas, including being "wise with taxpayers' money."

"In 2005, America grew in prosperity, advanced the cause of freedom and peace, and enhanced our security," Bush said. "Our duties continue in the new year, and I'm confident that our nation will meet the challenges that lie ahead."

Source of China bird flu death unknown

SANMING CITY, China, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- China confirms a seventh person dead from the H5N1 bird-flu virus but can't determine where the 41-year-old woman contracted the illness.

There had been no outbreak in Sanming City, where she worked and lived, and all poultry raised in the area had been immunized, China Daily reports.

No virus was found in the 230 poultry culled after her death.

Her family said she hasn't eaten poultry, been around anyone sick and she didn't have any visitors.

The woman, known only as Zhou, caught a fever Dec. 6 and died Dec. 21.

An unidentified official with the Ministry of Health said it waited until Dec. 29 to report the death to the public because it wanted to find the source of the bird flu.

The World Health Organization is also investigating.

More than 60 people have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu and millions of poultry of died or been culled since the outbreak started in 2003.

It has spread through Asia and Europe and health officials fear a human pandemic if the virus mutates to one the immune system can't protect against.

Deadline for Medicare drug coverage looms

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Seniors have until midnight Saturday to sign up for a Medicare drug plan in order for coverage to start Sunday, but confusion remains a hindrance.

A new prescription method approved by Congress has dozens of private insurance companies jockeying for the 42 million U.S. citizens on Medicare.

About 1 million have signed up for coverage since enrollment began Nov. 15, the Houston Chronicle reports.

People who miss the 2005 deadline won't be eligible for coverage until Feb. 1.

Those who don't choose a plan by May 15 will automatically be placed into one.

Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said many seniors are confused by the new prescription coverage policies and will wait to sign up.

Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said poor people are at risk of losing vital coverage of certain drugs.

Medicare officials say the worry isn't warranted.