BELGRADE, May 3 - A day after Belgrade released the three American POWs Washington and Brussels said «thank you» by bombing much of Serbia practically into stone age. NATO air strikes hit Kostolac and Obrenovac gigantic electric power plants on the 40th day of bombing, leaving Belgrade, Vojvodina and much of Serbia without power.

Last night's bombing has caused a complete breakdown in power supply to about 65% of Serbia, 80%8 of Republika Srpska in the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, TiM sources estimate. Some parts of Croatia and Macedonia, who also receive power from Obrenovac.

«Civilians are left without water supply, bakeries don't work, hospitals cannot treat patients etc.,» a TiM correspondent from Belgrade reports.

Which means that the TV and Internet services have now also been cut off.

Except for those using laptops, whose batteries are also going to run out in a few hours.

«Whose capacity to fight were they (NATO) trying to disable - of pensioners, kids, bakers, kidney patients?» our outraged correspondent asks, adding that, «THIS IS CLEARLY A WAR CRIME! Atilla the Hun and Hitler had far more sensitivity for human suffering than (Bill) Clinton, (Gen. Wesley) Clark and their bunch.»

Other TiM sources in Serbia also report severe hardships in coping with a life without electrical power at the end of the 20th century, which has made so many people dependent on electricity. But NATO's savagery is also bringing the best in the people of Serbia, as families and strangers bond together in a quest for survival.

One family in Vojvodina, for example, has cooked its main meal today using an old propane camping stove. Others are bringing out of their sheds, garages or barns the long-forgotten wood burning stoves. And families who have either gas or wood burning stoves are sharing them with those who don't.

Fortunately, with temperatures in the low 80s (Fahrenheit; 28 Celsius), God has once again intervened on behalf of the Serbs enabling them also to use outdoor barbecues in lieu of kitchen stoves.