Lei bottoms out

BUCHAREST (Reuter) - Romanians have had their deepest suspicions confirmed - the fast depreciating lei banknotes are only fit for toilet paper. The Evenimentul Zilei newspaper said a student sent it samples of toilet paper containing fragments of 100 lei notes.

A National Bank spokesman told the paper the bank shreds five to six tons of notes weekly and sends them to paper mills for recycling, sometimes into toilet paper.