Bird flu outbreaks have continued to spread in Vietnam, while a man suspected of being infected with the virus fled a hospital quarantine unit, state-controlled media reported today.

Five people convicted of murder and drug trafficking in separate cases were executed by firing squads in Vietnam, state-controlled media reported today.

A BIRD FLU outbreak that has sickened nearly 600,000 chickens in Vietnam is suspected of being linked to the deaths of 10 children and an adult in Hanoi, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

More than 230,000 people are in need of emergency food aid after floods in Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta that killed 56 people.