This happened to me 3 times now. Whenever it happens, I first realize that the headlines in the desktop applet are not updated. Then when I try to start the feed reader from the menu, it doesnt come up. Opening the feed reader by double clicking on one of the old headlines within the desktop applet works, but opens an empty reader.

does anybody have a similiar experience? why is this? is it a known bug?

The only thing I know is it never happened before I enabled root access. The application worked fine on IT2005 and before I enabled root on IT2006.