I updated my system today to the newest dapper packages after leaving them unchanged for some time. The reported problem is solved.
I am not sure what the problem was, however. -- Gaim crashes when hovering voer a hyperlink https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/32764 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
