High on Life 2 has more creative sci-fi guns, more wacky characters, and “more than five” playable games to find, including the infamous Bible Adventures.
Squanch Games chief creative officer/art director Mikey Spano and chief operating officer/executive producer Matty Studivan told IGN about how they’re raising the stakes for the sequel to the popular comedy shooter during a conversation at gamescom 2025. Although a bigger cast and new story might be the primary draw for fans, the studio says it made sure to tuck in more Easter Eggs to uncover, too.
The original High on Life famously included a few full-length movies for players to watch if they knew where to look, and it sounds like High on Life 2 will take things a step further. Spano tells us that, in addition to “some surprising B+ tier movies,” the sequel introduces fully-emulated, playable video games. When originally asked which titles to include, Spano says one game came up before any others: Bible Adventures.
“Yes, you can play the whole thing,” Spano said of the officially licensed version included in High on Life 2. “And it’s not the only emulated game that’s in there.”
We’ve actually already caught a glimpse of how Bible Adventures shows up in Squanch’s sequel. In a gameplay demo shown at gamescom 2025, it’s revealed that players will, at some point during High on Life 2, encounter Richard Kind’s Senator Muppy Doo. After he shrinks down to invade the player (and their in-game menu), players can find the only legal way to play Bible Adventures in the year 2025.
Spano stops short of telling us exactly how many games can be played or which other titles are included but does promise there are at least “more than five.” If Bible Adventures is the first we’re hearing about, then there’s no telling what else lies in store.
We’ll only have to wait a few more months to find out which movies and games wormed their way into High on Life 2. Squanch confirmed its sequel has a release date of February 13, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, as well as Game Pass, earlier this week.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Officials with the World Health Organization are alerting the public to a potential revival of epidemic proportions. New reports show the chikungunya virus is spreading outside of its typical distribution, according to Reuters.
What’s happening?
Chikungunya is a virus that was first identified in the United Republic of Tanzania in 1952. Since then, it’s emerged across Africa and Asia, particularly in the Indian Ocean region. It’s spread by mosquitoes, most commonly by the species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Once bitten, an infected person can expect to experience fever and severe joint pain.
Right now, an estimated 5.6 billion people across 119 countries are at risk of contracting the virus as it spreads to Europe and other continents, per Reuters. WHO officials are concerned that the pattern is similar to an epidemic of the disease that happened between 2004 and 2005 and impacted nearly half a million people.
“We are seeing history repeating itself,” said Diana Rojas Alvarez, a medical officer at the WHO, per Reuters.
Why are mosquito-borne illnesses important?
According to the WHO, mosquitoes are the most common vector of disease. Illnesses such as chikungunya, malaria, and West Nile cause nearly 800,000 deaths each year worldwide.
Humans are more likely to be infected where mosquitoes thrive in warm, wet climates. With global temperatures on the rise, the insect’s habitat is expanding.
What’s being done about mosquito-borne illnesses?
There are no medicines currently known to treat chikungunya, though two types of vaccines are available in the United States and acetaminophen or paracetamol can alleviate symptoms, per the CDC. With this, as with many mosquito-borne illnesses, prevention is key.
Mosquito-borne illnesses are easily preventable by controlling the insect population and preventing them from breeding. In California, vector district officials are working to sterilize male mosquitoes in an effort to control populations. Scientists in Burkina Faso have developed a mosquito-killing fungus to be introduced to the insects during mating.
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SINO-Pak relations initially evolved within a geo-economic framework after the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
However, over time, security considerations have increasingly overshadowed economics, leaving the relationship struggling between the two domains. On the other hand, Pakistan-US relations have historically been strategic and security-centric, but today, they also face the challenge of balancing security with geo-economic priorities.
Ultimately, the real test lies with Pakistan’s establishment — whether it chooses to prioritise geo-economics or maintain deeper, security-centred strategic ties with both global powers. Nevertheless, these options will inevitably come with conditions attached.
Apparently, China’s foremost concern remains security. At the same time, the US emphasises the economic dimension, framing its engagement as both an opportunity for financial advantage and a means to elevate Pakistan’s political profile, particularly in the context of the changing politics of South and West Asia. Pakistan’s geography is undoubtedly a strategic asset, complemented by its aspiration to project itself at a level comparable, if not equal to, India’s military, strategic and political stature, at least in a sustainable sense.
Two perspectives emerge in this regard. One holds that maintaining strong ties with both China and the US can help Pakistan achieve this status. The other, less popular but arguably more pragmatic, view contends that without ensuring political stability and sustained economic growth at home, such ambitions will remain elusive.
Maintaining an exclusive relationship with both China and the US is a delicate task.
However, maintaining an exclusive relationship with both is delicate, especially when there is a contrast in the approach towards and expectations from each other. The phrase ‘de-securitisation of bilateral relationship between the US and Pakistan’ is echoing in Islamabad. But, it remains unclear whether the two nations, which have maintained close security-related ties for over 75 years, will suddenly shift the paradigm, especially when other avenues for cooperation are limited in scope.
Indeed, Pakistan scored a significant boost when it secured a deal with the US on 19 per cent tariffs, opening the door to the expansion of its exports with reduced competition. For much of the past two decades, however, Pakistan’s trade relationship with Washington has been marked by a structural imbalance; the US imports more from Pakistan than it exports, leaving an annual deficit that has averaged between $2 billion to $3bn.
Lower tariffs mean Pakistan must recalibrate its trade strategies. On the surface, its recent negotiations for textile concessions and the decision to import, according to reports, a billion dollars’ worth of US crude oil appear to be tactical measures to ease the strain. Similarly, discussions on crypto cooperation and energy resources exploration carry a futuristic tone, holding some potential to generate political capital and sustain bilateral confidence.
Nevertheless, neither country can detach itself from the broader framework of security cooperation, whether in counterterrorism or regional stability. Washington’s decision to designate the Majeed Brigade of the Balochistan Liberation Army a foreign terrorist organisation — Islamabad’s long-standing demand — reflects an unusual convergence of interests in this sphere.
Yet, a serious test for Pakistan could arise if Washington, in tandem with Saudi Arabia, presses it to endorse the Abraham Accords. Such a move would almost certainly come with binding conditions, foremost among them a recalibration of Pakistan’s Iran policy. Within this context, Balochistan assumes added significance, not only for its role in regional geopolitics but also for the allure of its untapped rare earth mineral reserves.
Outside these contexts, if the US genuinely seeks to de-hyphenate security from its relationship with Pakistan, the question remains: how can this be achieved while engaging primarily with Pakistan’s defence establishment, which by its very nature prioritises security? Successive civilian governments have attempted to reframe their ties with Washington on non-security grounds.
The last serious effort came under the PPP government after 2008, when, in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the party mistakenly thought that it could alter the trajectory of bilateral relations. The attempt backfired. The Kerry-Lugar Bill, which was supposed to broaden cooperation beyond security, instead became a flashpoint, straining US-Pakistan ties and unsettling the civil-military balance at home.
Another perspective available in the geopolitical domain is that the developments of 2025 do not represent a pivot away from India but a diversification of Washington’s approach to South Asia.
For Pakistan, the opportunity is unprecedented: a chance to reduce overreliance on China, broaden its partnerships, and restore a measure of strategic balance. Yet history warns of how often such openings have been squandered by short-term thinking, institutional fragility and shifting global priorities. The test lies not in the signing of agreements but in their consistent implementation.
If Islamabad can deliver reforms and Washington sustains its commitments, the deal may indeed evolve into a long-term framework of cooperation. If not, it risks becoming just another episode in the long and uneasy history of Pakistan-US relations, full of grand announcements, followed by quiet disappointments.
Pakistan’s establishment does not see any major challenge in balancing its close ties with China while exploring new avenues with the US. It’s also not overly worried about growing China-India ties, knowing their relationship has never been truly strategic and remains uncertain in the near future. Pakistan’s confidence is anchored in its robust defence partnership with China and remains largely intact, even in scenarios where Beijing and New Delhi might coordinate strategies to outmanoeuvre US President Donald Trump.
Chinese diplomacy, however, tends to be far less vocal than Washington’s, and is often conveyed through understated gestures. The Chinese foreign minister’s recent visit to Islamabad centred on security, CPEC and new initiatives. Significantly, just a day earlier, he had been in Kabul for a trilateral security meeting.
Media reports suggest that while China and Afghanistan have advanced discussions on joining the BRI, momentum to extend CPEC into Afghanistan has cooled. The Taliban, meanwhile, appears eager to cultivate an exclusive relationship with Beijing, independent of Pakistani influence, and China has agreed to connect Afghanistan through Central Asia via direct links. This is a signal that Rawalpindi and Islamabad would do well to interpret with care.
Yes, the killing fields of Gaza are seeing another weapon — starvation — being deployed, because the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), under orders from the Netanyahu government, are not content with killing 60,000 people — a figure which its own database says included, in the first phase of the war, 83 per cent unarmed civilians. If the first phase set a trend that continues, then some 50,000 innocent civilians have been killed so far.
The blockade clamped by IOF, also known as IDF (Israeli Defence Forces), has triggered a famine. Malnutrition and death stalk the Strip as the UN says that one in five households, some half a million Gaza Palestinians, are facing an acute food and nutrition deficit, and one in three children or more are acutely malnourished. Similarly, two per 10,000 people are dying daily due to malnutrition and disease. Soul-destroying numbers, you’d agree.
The web-based +972 Magazine, run by Israeli and Palestinian journalists, has published a story based on the Israeli ministry of intelligence’s database, which says that of those killed by Israel in the first phase, only 17pc are identified as Hamas militants or other combatants. The rest were unarmed civilians. This when Israel was claiming a high ‘kill ratio’ of 50pc to 60pc of militants. The report also says of those killed, 60pc were women and children.
It seems that starvation and killings are not enough to achieve the goal of total and expeditious ethnic-cleansing of Gaza. So, Nobel Peace Prize aspirant US President Donald J. Trump has greenlit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza occupation plan for which a 60,000-strong IOF force has been assembled. Reservists in multiples of that number are being recalled to duty.
There can be no doubt that the apartheid state enjoys unparalleled impunity to kill, maim and forcefully displace Palestinians.
This occupation plan and the UN designation of the situation in Gaza as a famine has stirred the conscience of ‘civilised and democratic’ Europe enough for its leaders to quickly issue perfunctory statements of disapproval — while continuing to supply the apartheid state with advanced weaponry, vital parts and other defence equipment.
There can be no doubt that the apartheid state enjoys unparalleled impunity to kill, maim and forcefully displace Palestinians not just in Gaza but also in the West Bank where settlers backed by IOF personnel have been on the rampage. The story of the Palestinians in Jerusalem is no different.
And this impunity extends to American soil too. Just Google to see how many Israeli paedophiles have been arrested by joint FBI Police and Homeland Security taskforces and then bailed out and allowed to return home. The story of the latest such incident was broken by independent journalist Shaun King on X.
Tom Alexandrovich was caught this month in a joint taskforce sting targeting paedophiles when he tried to lure a decoy underage girl for sex and used explicit language in his messages to her. A lot of reporting on the issue has been deleted by X but try and search for a video recorded by the Nevada law-enforcement officers where he is seen saying “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do anything”, in a daze, minutes after having been caught. When I checked last, it was there on the handle Ultras_antifaa on X.
While a lot of information is available online, this powerful man, who told law-enforcement officers he was in the US for meetings with the NSA and FBI, had a lot of content taken down by X and also wiped off other internet sites where the matter was being reported.
Why did he have such influence? Well, he heads the department in Israel which is behind the agency’s ‘take down’ requests to, for example, X. He is one of Netanyahu’s top aides and his social media profile says “Executive Director, Israel National Cyber Directorate, Building National Cyber Security, AI for Defence, Threat Intelligence (CTI), Aviation Security”.
King reported that taskforce officers involved in the sting operation and arrest confirmed to him that the “Trump administration personally intervened, at Israel’s request, to override US law enforcement, including their own federal agents involved in the sting, to make sure Alexandrovich got back to Israel quickly and safely”. The officers confirmed that the arrested man did not have a diplomatic visa or any kind of diplomatic immunity.
Alexandrovich’s department works in close coordination with NSO, the developer of the Pegasus spying software that governments around the world use to snoop on confidential conversations of their own citizens as well as foes. In all likelihood, the department snoops on foreign players and governments. He has also posted about making presentations to Netanyahu on projects to protect his country and undermine the adversaries.
Now imagine if the citizen of any other country was caught while attempting to lure a minor for sex. The US has cancelled the student visas and ruined the lives of a large number of foreign students for merely exercising their freedom to protest peacefully against Israeli atrocities in Gaza. It has also blocked visas to overseas students admitted to US colleges because their social media timelines show them to be critical of Israel.
And in the US, the Nevada state attorney, whose personal social media account (since deleted) had multiple posts supporting Israeli actions and the annihilation of Palestinians and the Clark County district attorney (both US-Israeli dual nationals) played their part in freeing a man charged with a serious offence that carries a jail term of up to 10 years. They happily complied with the Trump administration’s request and freed him on bail.
This story is shared here because you are unlikely to have read it on Western media, the self-proclaimed citadel of free speech. The purpose of sharing this was also to underline the sort of leverage the apartheid state has over the US. The one major consequence is the fate of Palestine and the Palestinians.
Zipping through the Australian outback this weekend is a red car looking more race boat than sedan and which travels at highway speeds using about the same amount of power it takes to boil a kettle.
When and if this futuristic looking craft – the UNLIMITED 6.0 – crosses the finish line for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Adelaide, its team from Western Sydney University will probably celebrate with something a bit stiffer than a cup of tea.
Among the messages of support written on the vehicle’s solar panels for the engineering students trying to develop breakthroughs in solar car design, is one that reads: “get this man a beer”.
No doubt the team will deserve a cold drink after a gruelling 3,000km race from Darwin across some of the world’s harshest and most remote terrain. But it won’t be all blokes who will be celebrating.
No ordinary car … inside one of the cars racing in the World Solar Challenge. Photograph: Lloyd Jones/AAP
Returning for her second race, veteran Micah Honan has taken on the role of electrical lead – one of added significance in 2025 with a new design challenge for the race of ensuring the car runs efficiently with reduced sunlight – this year’s event is being held in winter for the first time.
“There are many solutions for a complicated problem, and everyone solves it a bit differently,” Honan said.
Moritz Mitzel from Aachen in Germany, the first driver to take to the road in the latest World Solar Challenge, starting in Darwin on Sunday. Photograph: Lloyd Jones/AAP
“I love learning how and why something works, or how and why it doesn’t. Engineering is not just a field of study, but a mindset.”
The Western Sydney University team is one of 34 cars from 17 countries preparing to race their sun-powered vehicles across the outback in a test of innovative technology that may drive the solar-powered cars of tomorrow.
The twice-yearly event began in 1987 and attracts an online audience of millions of people, who watch the race of solar-powered cars designed, engineered and built at universities and schools in Australia and overseas.
After the teams leave Darwin they must travel as far as they can until 5pm each day, when they make camp in the desert.
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Event ambassador Chris Selwood said designing and building a solar car to travel 3,000km, qualifying for the race, then making it to the start was “an incredible achievement for those with dreams of a more sustainable future”.
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“Safety for everyone is paramount and that’s one area that can’t be compromised,” he said in a statement.
Teams face extreme heat, vast open desert stretches and varied terrain in three classes: challenger, cruiser and explorer.
The cruiser class was created to encourage “green to the mainstream” concept cars fitted with innovative, sustainable and potentially practical features that could find their way into real-world design.
Driver-only challenger class cars must travel 3,000km on the power of sunshine, while cruisers carry a passenger and in addition to solar power are allowed to charge from external sources after 5pm each day.
The explorer class provides an even broader platform to showcase prospective ideas, technology and renewables.
Overseas entrants this year include teams from Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Estonia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the US.
WHICHEVER way one looks at it, the recent arrest of two of former prime minister Imran Khan’s nephews defies reason. Why them, and why now? As the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has pointed out, “The fact that the arrests were made 27 months after the incident is difficult to understand for any independent observer, having occurred at a time when the trials of other accused persons have long been underway or already concluded”. At least one of the nephews was, as his family pointed out, nowhere near the violence that unfolded at Jinnah House in Lahore on May 9, 2023. In fact, his family has attempted to prove with pictures that he was vacationing in Chitral. The manner of his arrest also raised questions. Lahore police had initially been unaware he was picked up. It was hours later that the country was told he had been a wanted man since 2023.
A day later, his brother faced the same ordeal. He was swept up from outside his home in Lahore, and later declared to have been arrested in a May 9 violence case. The prosecution’s argument, while seeking remand for the latter, was that he had “been seen” in a video of the protests. The timing of these arrests also complicates the picture: the first nephew was picked up hours after the Supreme Court granted bail to Mr Khan in eight cases pertaining to the May 9 riots; the second, shortly after the first had been dispatched to police remand. Some say the purpose of these arrests may be to demonstrate that the state’s position on May 9 remains unchanged. If so, this is a counterproductive way to make the point. High-handedness usually signals desperation rather than control; it also pushes public sympathy towards the victims. If the state wishes to ‘make an example’ of the May 9 protests, it should rely on evidence and sound legal arguments, not brute force.
India’s foreign minister said on Saturday that trade negotiations with Washington are continuing, but there are lines that New Delhi needs to defend, just days before hefty additional US tariffs are due to hit.
Indian goods face additional US tariffs of up to 50%, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to its increased purchases of Russian oil. A 25% tariff has already come into effect, while the remaining 25% is set to be enforced from August 27.
A planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been called off, dashing hopes that the levies may be lowered or postponed.
“We have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an Economic Times forum event in New Delhi, singling out the interests of the country’s farmers and small producers.
India-US trade talks collapsed earlier this year due to India not agreeing to open its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade between the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies is worth over $190 billion.
“It is our right to make decisions in our ‘national interest’,” Jaishankar said.
Analysts at Capital Economics said on Friday that if the full US tariffs come into force and stick, the hit to India’s economic growth would be 0.8 percentage points both this year and next.
“The longer-term harm could be even greater as a high tariff could puncture India’s appeal as a global manufacturing hub.”
The Indian minister described US President Donald Trump’s policy announcements as “unusual”.
“We have not had a US president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and (it) is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world,” Jaishankar said.
He also said Washington’s concern over India’s Russian oil purchases was not being applied to other major buyers such as China and the European Union.
“If the argument is oil, then there are (other) big buyers. If the argument is who is trading more (with Russia), then there are bigger traders,” he said.
Russia-European trade is bigger than India-Russia trade, he added.
The minister also said India’s purchases of Russian oil had not been raised in earlier trade talks with the US before the public announcement of tariffs.
A few days earlier, India suspended an 11% import duty on cotton until September 30, in a move seen as a signal to Washington that New Delhi is willing to address US concerns on agricultural tariffs, while also easing pressure on its garment industry.
The temporary suspension, announced late on Monday, could benefit US cotton growers and provide relief to India’s apparel sector, which faces tariffs of nearly 60% on shipments to the United States from later this month.
President Donald Trump earlier this month announced an extra tariff on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, doubling the total duty to 50% on US imports of Indian goods from later this month.
Indian exports had previously faced levies of 0-5%, with duties on some textiles ranging between 9% and 13% before Trump raised tariffs in April.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has launched a new category of mutual funds titled Infrastructure Schemes under the framework of open-end collective investment schemes, in a bid to mobilise long-term domestic savings for infrastructure development.
The initiative, identified as a key milestone under the Fund Management Department’s Roadmap 2025-26, was first discussed at the Mutual Fund Focus Group Session earlier this year. Following extensive consultations with the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan (MUFAP) and other stakeholders, SECP finalised a framework aimed at regulatory clarity, investor protection, and alignment with national development priorities.
Pakistan requires nearly $15 billion annually to meet its infrastructure financing needs, but current spending stands at only 2.1% of GDP, far below the international benchmark of 8-10%. By carving out a dedicated regulatory category, SECP hopes to provide greater visibility to infrastructure-focused funds and give investors structured access to projects of national importance.
“SECP’s introduction of a dedicated framework for Infrastructure Mutual Funds marks a transformative step for Pakistan’s capital markets and economy,” said Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, Ali Najib.
For PSX and its investors, this development creates new investment avenues, particularly in long-term infrastructure sectors like energy, transport, housing, and healthcare, enhancing portfolio diversification and stability, he noted. Institutional and retail investors gain structured, transparent access to projects of national importance, potentially boosting liquidity and market depth.
For the common person, the framework indirectly benefits society by channelling savings into infrastructure development, leading to job creation, improved services, and better living standards while promoting sustainable economic growth, Najib added.
Under the new regulations, Asset Management Companies (AMCs) can classify infrastructure schemes as equity, debt, or hybrid funds. Investment opportunities cover a wide spectrum, including energy, transport, logistics, water, sanitation, communications, and social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, industrial parks, affordable housing, and tourism facilities.
To boost investor confidence, minimum fund sizes have been set at Rs100 million for perpetual schemes. AMCs must also invest at least Rs25 million as seed capital in closed-end schemes exceeding three years’ maturity, ensuring manager-investor alignment. Such schemes may allow periodic subscriptions and redemptions after one year, with conditions clearly defined in offering documents.
The framework provides flexibility on Net Asset Value (NAV) disclosures, requiring updates at intervals not exceeding one month. Additionally, schemes must maintain at least 70% of net assets in infrastructure securities, with any shortfall to be regularised within three months.
Management fees have been capped at 3% for equity schemes and 1.5% for debt schemes, with hybrid funds following a weighted average formula. Sales loads are prohibited, though contingent loads may apply for early redemptions in closed-end schemes.
Maaz Azam, Research Head at Optimus Capital Management, termed the framework an “alternative investment avenue” that could strengthen transparency and accountability in infrastructure projects. He observed that corruption and poor quality often mar public projects, but a regulated fund structure could enforce higher standards and return-oriented practices. “This is a good step,” Azam said. “It gives investors exposure to a new asset class, while the country benefits from long-term infrastructure development.”
The SECP initiative is seen as part of broader efforts to expand the role of capital markets in Pakistan’s economic development. By bridging the infrastructure financing gap, the regulator aims to attract both domestic and international investors while reinforcing confidence in the fund management industry.
