Adele faces vocal cord career threat

Injuries, fires sour NT cracker night

CRACKER night in the Northern Territory went off with too much of a bang for a number of locals, with a 12year-old seriously injured and the number of fires soaring.

Many Territorians love being the only Australians to still enjoy legally detonating bungers to mark the anniversary of self-governance, but authorities say the fallout from Territory Day is “totally avoidable”.

Fire crews were called to around 400 small blazes, significantly up from 159 in 2016.

One house shed was destroyed, which NT Police, Fire and Rescue Services District Officer Ian Lockley says was “a prime example of how just one stray firework can cause significant damage.”

Health officials say it’s troubling that kids and bystanders are being caught in the firing line when people dangerously let off crackers.

Up until 6am yesterday, 24 people went to hospital with firework-related injuries across the NT.

Among them was a 12-yearold child with a serious eye injury. ADELE has had to cancel two shows in London because of damage to her vocal cords – raising fresh career fears.

The 29-year-old said she was heartbroken at not being able to perform in front of sellout crowds at Wembley Stadium. They were the final shows in a 16-month world tour.

On a post shared on social media yesterday, the Hello singer said: “To say I’m heartbroken would be an understatement. To come home to such a response after so long away doing something I never thought I could pull off but did, has blown me away.”

Referring to the midweek shows, she said: “I’ve struggled vocally on both nights. I had to push a lot harder than I normally do.”

Adele said a doctor had advised her not to perform.

Adele – who has sold more than 100 million records and recently toured Australia – was previously forced to remain silent for months after vocal cord surgery to remove a polyp which had haemorrhaged.

She said fans would be refunded for tickets if the shows could not be rescheduled.