They phoned me from xcelco yesterday afternoon to inform me that the newsreader was up and running again. :o)) Apparently something was wrong at the place they get the internet through and a lot of people were calling in about it last week. Of course they don't do anything on the weekends, so it took until yesterday to get it all fixed up.
I won't be getting rid of the google newsreader though... it's good to have as a backup in case this happens again.
Peace! Gemini