Much-loved musician Jonny Clegg dies and kissing band in England, on this day in history

622 The beginning of the Islamic calendar – Muhammad flees from Mecca to Medina. Experts estimate there to be about 4 000 religions globally, including major world religions, smaller indigenous traditions, new religious movements, and folk belief systems. The biggest are: Christianity (2.4 billion followers), including 35 000-40 000 protestant denominations; Islam (1.9bn); Hinduism (1.2bn); Buddhism (520 million). In South Africa, 85% of the population is Christian (including Shembe), then Islam (2%), Hinduism (1%), Judaism, Buddhism, Baháʼí Faith etc (1%).

1439 Kissing is banned in England in an attempt to stop the spread of the Black Death.

1661 The first European banknotes are issued in Sweden. China was the first to use them.

1897 The committee, investigating the Jameson Raid releases its report finding that it was done almost implicitly through the support and encouragement of colonialist Cecil Rhodes and the greedy mining houses in the Transvaal.

1901 The British Colonial Office appoints a Ladies’ Commission to investigate British concentration camps, set up during the Anglo-Boer War. Poorly built and maintained, unclean, and overcrowded, leading to the spread of disease, at least 25 000 children and women die in the camps. International opinion turns against the British, causing them to stop imprisoning women and children in the camps.

1999 Scion of the powerful Kennedy clan, John F Kennedy jr dies when his plane crashes off affluent Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

2006 The first of the Gripen Swedish fighter planes, bought under the controversial arms deal, is taken by road to Ysterplaat Air Force Base from Cape Town Harbour.

2019 Musician Jonny Clegg, 66, dies from pancreatic cancer. His music touched many with its vibrant blend of Western pop and African rhythms. His music style had an impact by embracing different cultures and enhanced the social cohesion of young South Africans.

2023 Persian Gulf International Airport, on the coast of Iran, hits a heat index high of 66.7ºC.

2024 Paraguay carries out the largest cocaine bust in its history, with ‘Operation Sweetness, netting four tons hidden inside a shipment of sugar.

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