XML Error

I'm trying to populate a table with an XML file however i keep getting the error:

System.Xml.XmlException: The data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1

I've done some googling but didn't find much out on the cause. A lot of people pointed to making sure the folder has anonymous access (which it does), so i'm not sure what else to try. I'll post a bit of code for your viewing pleasure. (keep in mind this is my first work with xml, so the easiest solution, may in fact be the correct one)

===========
news.xml
===========
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<news>
      <article>
            <title>My First XML News!</title>
            <link>http://localhost/NewCatSite/news/7-8-2005</link>
            <description>An in-depth article about the perils of XML</description>
            <summaryImageTitle>Article Image</summaryImageTitle>
            <summaryImageURL>http://localhost/NewCatSite/images/news/mini/tester.jpg</summaryImageURL>
            <pubDate>Mon 11 Jul 2005 9:45:00 EST</pubDate>
      </article>
</news>

******************************************************************

===============
SamplePage.aspx.vb (Sub_Load method only)
===============
    Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        If Not Page.IsPostBack Then

            Dim reader As New XmlTextReader(New StringReader("http://localhost/NewSite/NewsArticles/news.xml"))
            Dim sb As New StringBuilder()
            Dim localName As String
            Dim title As String
            Dim link As String
            Dim description As String
            Dim sumImgTitle As String
            Dim sumImgURL As String
            Dim pubDate As String
            Dim data As String

            reader.WhitespaceHandling = WhitespaceHandling.None
            reader.Read() '<<<<>>>>************* This is the line the errors occurs on

            While Not reader.LocalName.Equals("News")
                reader.Read()
                While Not reader.LocalName.Equals("item")
                    localName = reader.LocalName
                    reader.Read()
                    data = reader.ReadString

                    If localName.Equals("title") Then
                        title = data
                    ElseIf localName.Equals("link") Then
                        link = data
                    ElseIf localName.Equals("description") Then
                        description = data
                    ElseIf localName.Equals("summaryImageTitle") Then
                        sumImgTitle = data
                    ElseIf localName.Equals("summaryImageURL") Then
                        sumImgURL = data
                    ElseIf localName.Equals("pubDate") Then
                        pubDate = data
                    End If
                End While
                reader.Read()
            End While

            reader.Close()
        End If
    End Sub

************************************************************************

The plan after getting this done was to use a stringbuilder to append all the data, and add it to a literal control inside SamplePage.aspx.  Any ideas on how to get this stuff read in without getting this error?

Thanks
-Matt