Hello and welcome to this latest edition of The Neopian News Brief, your one-stop summary of all the stories that have been making headlines throughout Neopia during the past week. We've got all kinds of things to discuss, so let's not waste any time...
 Our lead item this week is the much-anticipated arrival of the Turmaculus, an immense beast who makes his home in the lush environs of Meridell. As a young Turmac, the creature proved to have an unprecedented appetite, which caused him to grow and grown until reaching his current gargantuan proportions. Despite spending most of the day sleeping, this so-called "King of All Petpets" is known to be exceedingly generous if found in a good mood. However, it's also been said that those who catch him at a bad time are doomed to suffer a horrible fate, so beware!
 Speaking of gargantuan appetites, your pets will be glad to know that a number of tantalising treats found their way onto the shelves this past week. It all began on Wednesday, when the Breadmaster introduced three new baked items (fruit tarts, hot crossed buns, and chocolate eclairs).
 Meanwhile, over in Faerieland, four more scrumptious snacks were revealed as lemon Faerie mousse, fizzy Faerie jelly, fluffy Faerie hot cakes and fancy Faerie floats all made their debuts. On Friday, Grundo's Cafe unveiled two eerily edible types of wiggle cakes; get yours now in either strawberry or lime!
 One story getting a lot of attention has been the stamp collecting craze currently sweeping Neopia. Ever since stamps made their debut on Thursday, Neopians have been flocking to the Post Office Kiosk with hopes of getting their paws on some stamps to place in their album. However, given the fact that stamps with rarities as low as twenty (such as the Mystery Island Kougra stamp) are currently selling for thousands of points, it might be wise to cash in on the craze while you can, then fill up your album once prices have fallen.
 Should you decide to be one of the few Neopians who doesn't spend their entire weekend in the Post Office Kiosk, then it might be a good idea to swing by the Grooming Parlour and pick up one of the supercool new items that went on sale this week. Who wouldn't love to treat one of their pets to some super curling gel, daisy nail polish, or a little eau de daisy?
 Have you mastered the fine art of Scarab 21? Looking for something a little more challenging than Cheat!? Well then, maybe Round Table Poker is the game for you. Once you've brushed up on the rules and practiced your poker face, it's time to pull up a chair and give it your best. Be sure to watch your opponents closely, because it'll take a keen eye and a strong hand to pile up enough chips to keep advancing through the tournaments...
 With the week drawing to a close, the Rainbow Pool remains as crowded as ever, thanks to a parade of new paint brush styles that continue rolling out at a breakneck pace. Tuesday saw the release of shadow Tonu, starry JubJubs and island Eyries, while Wednesday featured the premiere of pirate Chias and cloud Draiks. Receiving their second paint brush of the week, baby Tonu became available on Friday. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Ganuthors caused quite a stir on Tuesday, as they unveiled three new styles of their own (green, blue and brown).
 Speaking of creating a stir, NeoQuest fanatics had cause for celebration on Thursday, as news that work on a sequel to their favourite game had begun. Immediately, the air was rife with speculation. What species would the central characters be? Where would the story take place? Would NeoQuest II occur in the future, or in some ancient, long-ago land? This is one story that we'll definitely have to keep checking on as it develops...
 Now it's time to take a look at the leading stories coming from the world of finance. It looks as though the Neopian economy has settled into a bit of a slump, as the Neodaq index posts a loss for the third time in four weeks, falling fourteen points to reach 827. Leading the way among this week's losers was... no, not BOOM! Boom Boxes (although they did fall another twenty-five points)... but rather, the Confederation of Fish Lovers, whose shares plunged an incredible twenty-eight points, all the way down to fourteen NPs a share.
 COFL and BOOM were just two of five companies that went into limbo after falling below the dreaded fifteen NP mark. On the other hand, six companies received some good news during these troubled economic times when their stocks climbed back over fifteen NPs, bringing the total number of companies currently out of commission down to twenty-four. Among those who managed to resume trading this week was Peophin Water Parks, which rode an impressive twelve point gain to bring their share price back up to a respectable nineteen NPs.
 However, the honour of being the week's biggest winner goes to Lupe Consolidated, whose shares rose a surprising nineteen points, jumping all the way to fifty-three NPs. LUPE is now firmly entrenched as the number two stock on the index (a solid twenty-one points ahead of the number three stock, Kacheek and Sons Landscaping), and has clearly emerged as the favourite to challenge the mighty Neopian Auction House for the title of "King of the Big Board."
So then, will TNAH be able to fight off this latest challenge and keep its share price around 140, or will Lupe Consolidated be able to rise up and take a bite out of them? Only time will tell....
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