Skywise wrote:
The problem described
is almost 100% surely Google's problem.

Well, it can't be "100% surely Google's problem" because I haven't
accessed these groups with Google in the past month or so, and
Newsreader, that was previously (10 years or so) 100% reliable has also
been giving me "can't access" errors sporatically in the last week.
Coincidence? I doubt it.