Remember A Day | Madrid overrun by rats, penile implants for impotence and a balloon crossing the Atlantic: headlines from four decades ago

Officials in Madrid, Spain, which was overrun by millions of rats, took matters into their own hands, and the invention of penile implants to cure impotence in India made the headlines four decades ago this week.

● China and Japan signed a treaty pledging themselves to peace, friendship, and fostering positive relations. The document, which took six years to finalise, recorded their opposition to hegemony but it also stated that the treaty would not affect either nation’s relations with other countries. The treaty was denounced by the Soviet Union, which alleged that it conflicted with detente and posed a threat to stability in Asia.