Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As _
  System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
 
        'XML-Datei aus dem Web holen
        Dim wc As New System.Net.WebClient  <------die Anwendung stoppt hier
        wc.DownloadFile("http://www.heise.de/ix/news/news-atom.xml", _
          "C:\heise-atom.xml")
        wc.Dispose()
 
        g = Me.CreateGraphics()  'get the graphics object of the form
        widthX = Me.Width         ' x co- ordinate or width
 
        Me.loadthenews()
 
        Timer1.Interval = 80
        Timer1.Start()
        fo = New Font("Times New Roman", 14, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point)
 
        strwidth = g.MeasureString(str, fo)
        douX = strwidth.Width
 
    End Sub

Private Sub loadthenews()
 
        Dim readXML As New XmlTextReader("C:\news-atom.xml")
        While readXML.Read()
            If readXML.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Text Then
                str += "   " & readXML.Value
            End If
        End While
    End Sub

VB@rchiv its the Best