A total of £800,000 is available to help businesses to start up and grow over the next year.

North Lanarkshire Council’s new business grant schemes are now open for applications.

A total of £800,000 is available to help businesses to start up and grow over the next year.

The Business Start Up Fund can provide funding of up to £3,000 to businesses about to start or those that have been operating for less than 12 months.

The Business Growth Fund offers funding of up to £20,000 towards capital expenditure and/or infrastructure costs. Up to £5,000 is available for workforce or skills development and up to £4000 funding is available towards the cost of attendance at trade shows or exhibitions.

The Growth Fund grant is open to businesses based in North Lanarkshire operating in the following key sectors: advancing manufacturing, construction, creative industries, food and drink (manufacturing and processing), health and social care, life sciences, renewable energy, social enterprise, tourism, and transport and logistics.

Projects that help boost productivity, improve operating efficiencies, enhance trading capabilities and help local businesses to digitise and embrace net zero ambitions are encouraged.

The Town Centre Retail Fund seeks to reduce vacant space in town centres and encourage business startup and growth with up to £20,000 available per premise. The property must be on the ground floor and have been empty for at least three months.

Councillor Alex McVey, Convener of the Enterprise and Fair Work Committee, said: “Businesses are vital to growing the local economy.

“We know from our previous grant funding schemes how beneficial they are to help local businesses to innovate, invest and grow, and in turn employ more people.

“We encourage businesses looking to expand, or people looking to start a business, to get in touch to discuss how this funding could help.”

Last year’s programmes saw 79 businesses awarded funding to start up or grow through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Pride in Place Impact Fund and from North Lanarkshire Council.

Restrictions apply to businesses that have received grant funding from North Lanarkshire Council in the last 24 months.

To discuss your project and potential funding, please contact Business Gateway Lanarkshire on 01698 520775 or lanarkshire@bgateway.com.

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“It is not just a road into the city it is a living record of North Belfast’s history, resilience and civic pride.”

An “ambitious” new 10-year plan hopes to improve the vibrancy and connectivity of a historic North Belfast area while strengthening the area’s heritage identity and improving public realm.

The Upper Donegall Street Place Shaping Plan 2036 is described as being a “bold, community-shaped framework” for the future of one of North Belfast’s most historically significant streets.

The place shaping plan sets out a 10-year vision for Upper Donegall Street as a thriving, sustainable and inclusive gateway between Belfast City Centre and North Belfast harnessing the street’s exceptional heritage while driving economic growth, public realm improvements and climate resilience.

At an event, hosted by the North Belfast Heritage Cluster as part of the Recreating a Great Place North Belfast project, Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins, said: “This marks an important milestone in setting a clear and ambitious vision for the future of this historic part of North Belfast.

“This plan truly is a shining example of local community pride and reflects a strong commitment to partnership working to drive regeneration and sustainable growth. The Plan strikes a careful balance between the need to regenerate the area while protecting the historic elements of the street.

“By enhancing public spaces, supporting sustainable travel and celebrating the area’s rich heritage, this framework will help create a thriving, inclusive gateway between the city centre and North Belfast. I look forward to seeing the plan progress in the years ahead.”

Key findings discovered through community engagement included a lack of community services in the area, concerns around congestion including taxis at weekends and pavement parking, poor maintenance of buildings, and safety concerns with poor street lighting noted.

It also identified the nearby Ulster University and upcoming expansion of the Glider into North Belfast as opportunities to maximise regeneration in the area.

Olive Hill OBE, Committee Member for Northern Ireland, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Upper Donegall Street’s significance as an historic gateway from the City Centre to North Belfast is long established.

“Once a publishing hub for the City’s major newspapers, it also showcases some of the city’s finest built heritage as noted in its Georgian and Gothic Revival architecture. Numerous historical events have shaped it – from the impact of the Troubles or the Belfast Blitz, the place continues to evolve.

“We’re pleased to be able to support the Re-create a Great Place North Belfast project which is committed to celebrating North Belfast and enhancing the area’s existing heritage. It’s a positive step that this new plan that has been designed in partnership with those interested in preserving its past and planning for its future.”

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Paula Reynolds, Chair of the North Belfast Heritage Cluster, said: “Upper Donegall Street is not just a road into the city it is a living record of North Belfast’s history, resilience and civic pride. The organisations that line this street have been serving their communities for generations, and this ambitious plan gives us a shared framework to keep doing that in partnership with our key stakeholders.

“What we are launching today is a real commitment to heritage-led regeneration that benefits the people who live here, the organisations that work here, and the city as a whole. The North Belfast Heritage Cluster was built on the belief that thirteen organisations working together can achieve what none of us could alone. This Plan is proof of that.”

The Place Shaping Plan was developed through an extensive community engagement process. Key priorities identified by local stakeholders include strengthening the area’s heritage identity, improving the public realm, encouraging sustainable transport, and supporting a vibrant day and night-time economy.

The project is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and delivered in partnership with Belfast Charitable Society, one of Belfast’s oldest civic institutions, founded in 1752 and custodian of Clifton House since 1774. The Cluster brings together 13 heritage organisations from across North Belfast, spanning different traditions and communities, united around a shared commitment to heritage-led regeneration.

Over the next eighteen months, the North Belfast Heritage Cluster and its partners will progress a series of short, medium and long-term actions to unlock Upper Donegall Street’s full social, cultural and economic potential.

The full report is available at: www.GreatPlaceNorthBelfast.com

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Whitby Town Council has said it fully supports the company’s proposal to remove an annual polyhalite production restriction and to redesign and relocate a ventilation shaft and temporary winding headframe.

Anglo American is developing a polyhalite fertiliser mine and a 37-kilometre tunnel as part of a plan to transport the product to Teesside and sell the fertiliser globally to boost crop yields.

​At an extraordinary meeting of Whitby Town Council’s planning committee, members decided to unanimously support the application.

​Cllr Elizabeth Mulheran, chair of the planning committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Anglo American had previously given a presentation on this application in November and at the meeting last night a member of Anglo American was there to answer our questions.”

​​The main amendment of the proposal – which will be decided by the North York Moors National Park Authority – is the “requirement to alter the location of the currently approved ventilation shaft and for it to be sunk to the mine production level of 1,600m,” according to plans.

​A temporary winding tower would be required to sink the shaft, which would be removed when the mine is operational. Associated surface developments would include a ventilation fan station, air coolers, refrigeration plant and heat exchange system.

​​Woodsmith Mine site is situated approximately 4km south of the outskirts of Whitby and wholly within the boundary of the North York Moors National Park.

​​The site was formerly in agricultural use but is now at an advanced stage of construction.

Woodsmith Mine, Proposed Construction View. Applicant

​The Woodsmith Project currently employs more than 1,000 people, of whom 76 per cent are from the local area.

​In February, Anglo American announced that it had entered into an investment agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation to support continued progress of the project.

​Anglo American and Mitsubishi will explore opportunities to build out additional demand for POLY4 in key markets, including providing financial and commercial resources to accelerate pilot sales, leveraging Mitsubishi’s extensive networks and partnerships across the food and agriculture sectors.

​Commenting at the time, Peter Kyle, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, welcomed the news, stating: “It’s a game-changing investment that will help the UK to become a major global fertiliser producer, boosting sustainable and secure food production, whilst delivering £1.5 billion per year to the UK economy.”

Woodsmith Mine Project

Polyhalite is a naturally occurring mineral containing four of the six macronutrients that are “essential for plant growth”.

​Since acquiring the Woodsmith Project in 2020, Anglo American has carried out a comprehensive technical review to optimise the project’s design and delivery. The review identified a series of engineering enhancements aimed at ensuring the project’s long-term safety, efficiency, and operational reliability, the company said.

5 Elements Of Woodsmith Mine Project

​​The proposed amendments are the outcome of a review of the mine’s ventilation requirements which identified a need to increase both the ventilation airflow and cooling load to maintain safe workplace temperatures.

​The North York Moors National Park Authority has not set a date for deciding on the application.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House for the first time Wednesday approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long conflict that has reordered politics at home and abroad.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war, abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.

“Enough is enough,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort.

“It is time for the president to do the right thing,” he said. “The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.”

The roll call Wednesday was 215-208, but next steps are uncertain. Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority. Still, the tally, with four Republicans joining Democrats, was a rebuke of the president’s war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House chamber.

Opposition to war grows

It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the U.S. war against Iran. The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political pushback from his party.

Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the U.S. war swells. Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end U.S. entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East.

Johnson insisted Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week and Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume the flow of commerce.

Since the U.S. joined Israel in launching the Feb. 28 strikes on Iran, Americans have seen gas prices spike at the pumps, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.

Iran has been able to interrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer.

“We’re working on that final piece,” said Johnson, R-La. “The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopen for commerce. That what he’s working on.”

While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain. Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the U.S and Iran continue to flare.

Congress exerts its war powers authority

The war powers resolution from the House would not immediately stop the war, but it would provide a symbolic — if not legal — step against further military action.

The resolution next goes to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the U.S. campaign against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Iranians would think that the administration’s “hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think ”we won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?”

It’s not the only action Congress is taking in the national security arena as Democrats, in the minority, work to peel off Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran.

The House also voted Wednesday on another Democratic-led effort, a procedural step toward a measure that would authorize U.S. support for Ukraine’s military operations as it battles Russia and would help reconstruct the war-torn country. That vote is expected later this week. The House also expected to consider a war powers resolution to block U.S. action in Lebanon.

While Congress has the authority under the Constitution to declare war, the president also has power as the commander in chief to engage in military action, creating a legal dispute over which branch of government has ultimate say in matters of war and peace. If Senate joins the House to approve the resolution, it could set the stage for a fresh legal test of war powers.

Under the war powers act, the White House has a 60-day window to seek approval from Congress for military action. The administration, however, has indicated that because a ceasefire has been declared in the current conflict in Iran, the hostilities have ceased.

___

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

It comes after violence erupted during protests in Southampton on Tuesday

Robert Jenrick has defended Reform UK leader Nigel Farage after he was branded ‘unforgiveable’ for his response to the murder of Henry Nowak. Sir Keir Starmer condemned Mr Farage at Prime Minister’s Questions for suggesting the 18-year-old’s murder should be met with ‘rage’.

Mr Farage, meanwhile, appeared on the airwaves on Wednesday night (June 3) warning that division in the UK will ‘get far worse’, as he was asked whether his response was inflaming tensions, adding that riots in Southampton on Tuesday were ‘the beginning’.

It comes after violence erupted during protests in Southampton on Tuesday. Chairs, cans and flares were thrown at officers in riot gear. Videos on social media, including on X, showed violence rapidly developing, with bricks and flaming wheelie bins also hurled towards the line of officers.

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Southampton community leaders have since accused the far right of encouraging people to the city to ‘fuel’ violence to further their own agenda following the murder of Mr Nowak.

Mr Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, was asked by ITV’s Peston whether his boss was seeking to exploit the murder of the student in Southampton for political capital. The student’s parents had urged against the case being used to create ‘further division, hatred or tension’.

He replied: “No. What Nigel is doing is demanding action. We want to see change. I never want to see another young life lost like Henry Nowak’s, and I’m afraid if we just brush this under the carpet… if we respond with the usual thoughts and prayers mantra – which is what you’re hearing from the Prime Minister and from many other people in politics – nothing will change.”

Mr Jenrick said he ‘of course’ would condemn violence, which erupted at protests in Southampton on Tuesday night, as he was pressed about why his boss did not take the opportunity to do so when he appeared in the Commons. The Reform MP added: “He did not have an opportunity in the House of Commons to condemn the violence.

“He stood up to ask a question to the Prime Minister, and a whole flank of boorish Labour, Lib Dems, and Gaza sectarian MPs that surround us… attacked him for asking the important question.”

Elsewhere, appearing on Times Radio, the Reform leader defended himself over his approach to the case, including his suggestion that the public’s response should be ‘pure, cold rage’.

Mr Farage told the broadcaster: “Cold rage. I used that term very, very deliberately. Was I angry watching what had happened? Yeah, I bet you were too. Millions of us were.

“In fact, it’s hard to be a human being and not be angry watching it. But I suggested that rage was put in a cold way, not a hot way.”

Asked if there was a danger this could be interpreted as inciting division, he replied: “The division will get far worse. What you saw in Southampton last night is the beginning.

“If we get large numbers of young, white males who think the police are prejudiced against them, goodness knows where we go. This has to end.”

The 19-year-old man and middleman who ripped off Kingpin Ross McGill are on the run in the desert.

The man who sparked Scotland’s gang war is robbing fellow hoods while on the run in Dubai.

The 19-year-old, who can’t be named for legal reasons, has been hiding out in the desert after ripping off kingpin Ross McGill in a £500k fake cash deal ordered by cocaine baron Mark Richardson last year.

Footsoldiers from McGill’s Tamo Junto (TMJ) gang are hunting the teenage dealer after ordering a skip lorry to ram his mother’s Edinburgh home.

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A source told the Record the hood has been looting luxury watches and dirty cash from fellow gangsters in organised robberies in the United Arab Emirates.

“He brought a lot of heat to Richardson’s gang and has been cut off,” an insider said.

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“While he’s been laying low he has formed a close relationship with the Edinburgh middleman who introduced him to McGill.

“They both got a small cut for ripping off McGill but they are desperate. They’ve teamed up and are breaking apartments and stealing cash, high-end goods and watches to sell for a fraction of the price.

“Big players walk around carrying rolls of bank notes in Dubai.

“They’ve been getting intelligence on who to target because other criminals won’t report the robberies to the police.

“You can’t do that sort of thing forever, you have to wonder where it will end for them.

“The pair of them won’t be coming home to Scotland anytime soon. They are TMJ’s most wanted.”

A picture shared with the Record shows the dealer and the middleman – who we cannot name for legal reasons – pictured together in a bar weeks before the gang war started.

Weeks later the middleman was tracked down in Thailand and brutally slashed across the face.

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Last week McGill, who is understood to be on the run in Russia, instructed his Tamo Junto army to plough a skip lorry into the home of the teen dealer’s mum.

She was targeted after she flew out to visit him and bragged about her trip online.

Tamo Junto released footage of the truck smashing through the front of the home on Brand Drive in the Portobello area of Edinburgh.

A message from the group then read: “If you want to visit your rodent of a son in Dubai and post online – expect consequences.”

The attack sparked a menacing warning from Mark Richardson who threatened McGill with a ‘bullet to the head’.

The coke dealer’s footsoldiers A-Team gang also vowed to target McGill’s family.

In a post shared on line, the A-Team said: “McGill, come back to Scotland, you rodent because we are taking you out, rat boy.

“Attacking a woman, you wee rat. This isn’t a threat, this is a promise.

“You are getting a bullet to the head.

“You wrong one, if you don’t come back then your family are getting it.”

Ross McGill, known as Mr Big, launched the gang war in March of last year. His TMJ hoods targeted properties and businesses in Edinburgh linked to Richardson, 39, in a series of firebomb and gun attacks.

The violence spread to Glasgow within weeks where the Daniel crime clan were next in the gang’s sight’s due to their association with Richardson.

Steven Lyons, 45, head of the notorious Lyons mob is believed to have been feeding McGill with information to identify Daniel targets, with the family being his crew’s arch enemies in a feud that has lasted for decades.

Homes and businesses connected to the Daniels were torched and shot at before the violence halted when Lyons’ brother Eddie, 46, and key lieutenant Ross Monaghan, 43, were gunned down in the Costa Del Sol.

Spanish cops blamed the Daniel clan, but Police Scotland insisted the deaths were not linked to the gang war.

McGill and Steven Lyons were booted out of Dubai in September after authorities in the UAE probed their links to organised crime.

They flitted between neighbouring Gulf states before Lyons travelled to Bali at the end of March where he was detained on an Interpol Red Notice.

He was taken to Amsterdam and held on a European Arrest Warrant. He is expected to face a hearing this week to begin his extradition to Spain to face charges relating to his criminal network.

Sources claimed the Lyons empire was crumbling, but a series of retaliation attacks were launched in the wake of his arrest.

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North Yorkshire Police asked for the public’s help on behalf of the Coroner’s Office to locate relatives of a 65-year-old man from Harrogate who died yesterday, Tuesday June 2.

There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

In an update to the public appeal, made earlier today (Wednesday, June 3), a force spokesman said: “We’re pleased to confirm that his family have now been found. Our thanks to everyone who shared the appeal.”

The Trump administration has been fighting a court order to return all $166 billion in tariffs illegally collected from importers, according to a new report.

In February, the Supreme Court struck down some of the sweeping tariffs President Donald Trump slapped on both adversaries and allies last year, specifically the duties imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

This left the Trump administration with the headache of refunding businesses billions of dollars paid under the tariff policy.

But the administration is resisting an order handed down by international trade court judge Richard K. Eaton this spring, which demanded that the tariffs be refunded immediately, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Times specifically mentioned the administration’s supposed efforts to shield Rodney S. Scott, commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, from testifying in court next Tuesday about the tariff refunds. CBP is handling the refund process.

After the Department of Justice submitted an emergency appeal seeking to replace Scott with someone else, Eaton held firm in his order for Scott’s testimony, writing in filings Wednesday, “There is $166 billion at stake,” according to The Times.

The Independent has reached out to the White House, the CBP and the DOJ for comment.

In April 2025, Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods and additional reciprocal levies against countries that his administration accused of unfair trade practices.

The conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled 6-3 earlier this year that the tariffs imposed under the 20th-century Emergency Powers Act were unconstitutional. Trump bashed the court for its decision, saying he was “absolutely ashamed” of some of the justices who ruled against him.

A couple of executives from major companies have said that they have already started to get tariff refunds.

Representatives from Oshkosh Corporation, known for making military and other industrial vehicles, and Basic Fun, the makers of toys such as Care Bears and Lincoln Logs, told CNBC last month that they received some of the refunds for which the companies previously filed.

The Trump administration owed refunds to about 330,000 importers for tariffs paid on about 53 million entries, according to the Times.

Kim also announced a plan to “exponentially strengthen the national nuclear force,” stating that today’s nuclear potential was borne off the back of a “noble path of struggle” by scientists

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North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has told workers at a brand-new nuclear production factory to work double-quick on producing fresh atomic weapons to bolster the nation’s growing arsenal.

The Korean leader was photographed inspecting his latest nuclear material production plant on Wednesday (June 3), with the leader providing on-site guidance to officials and experts. As per state media reports, he was so pleased that he demanded the factory increase its production output.

Kim, accompanied by leading officials from the Ministry of Munitions Industry of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Nuclear Weapons Research Institute was snapped inspecting production lines, reviewing projects with senior officials, and mingling with workers as they brought about the nation’s latest advances in nuclear technology.

The North Korean leader told those gathered at the plant that the production capacity of weapons-grade nuclear material has now reached a level exceeding twice its past output thanks to efforts over the past five years, and called on workers at the factory to increase their output even further.

As per Northern newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Kim also announced a plan to “exponentially strengthen the national nuclear force,” stating that today’s nuclear potential was borne off the back of a “noble path of struggle” by North Korean scientists in the past five years.

Accelerating the growth of the arsenal would act as a war deterrence, Kim said, calling it a “fundamental guarantee and powerful safeguard that reliably ensures the country’s security, interests, and right to development.”

He added that this expansion was a necessary position for dealing with a long-term confrontation against “the most vicious adversaries”, in a startling threat to the West.

Kim’s tour of the newly operational atomic facility comes weeks after North Korea launched a mystery projectile into the ocean in its latest weapons test ordered by its Supreme Leader.

South Korean military chiefs said the unidentified projectile was fired off the peninsula’s west coast on Tuesday. It is the North’s latest weapons test this year.

It was reported the projectiles flew an estimated range of 49 miles before falling into the Yellow Sea on May 26. Likewise, that followed another launch by the North on April 19 in which it fired multiple short-range missiles in what state media described as a demonstration of cluster bomb warheads.

Nintendo has released a brand new game exclusively on mobile, as this month’s new releases also includes Slime Rancher and a new bullet hell shooter.

This month’s mobile games include that rarest of treats, a completely original Nintendo game, and Pictonico! certainly does not disappoint. There’s also a mobile port of cosy indie sci-fi farming sim Slime Rancher, excellent chess-based roguelite Gambonanza, and the peculiar but slightly broken Mystic Motors: Car Racing Game.

Pictonico!

iOS & Android, £6.99 and £5.39 (Nintendo)

Nintendo’s latest foray into mobile ignores all the Japanese game giant’s in-house IP and mascots in favour of using the contents of your phone’s photo album as the basis for its joyous, WarioWare-esque microgames.

It harvests all kinds of pictures, but is particularly fond of people’s faces, which are animated to laugh, cry, chat, smile, or chomp down canapés, in games that last a maximum of three seconds. It’s underpinned by Nintendo’s typically self-assured engineering standards, the pictures chosen and the way they’re animated never failing to amuse and impress.

Games are prevented from getting samey after extended play via cleverly integrated increases in difficulty. Initially it’s just figuring out what you have to do against a strict time limit, but soon enough actual skill is needed, and since each time you play a different friend or relative will be featured in its quick fire rounds, it keeps proceedings remarkably fresh. It may not be the sort of game you’d play for hours at a time, but it’s ideal for a swift, invigorating break in your day.

Score: 8/10

Perchang World

iOS, included with Apple Arcade subscription

Released 10 years ago, Perchang was a simple physics-based puzzle game about getting a marble into a funnel. The sequel takes that basic idea and really runs with it.

Now you’re rolling a series of marbles through sets of obstacles in multi-coloured 3D landscapes, triggering various pieces of scenery to boost them along their way. Flippers, columns, magnets, see-saws, and plenty more, gently roll or hurl marbles in the direction of their destination.

There’s a pleasing quality to its physics, with marbles flying and rolling consistently with the way they’re hit, and while it may not demand all that much creativity on your part it looks nice and does provide an increasing test of dexterity and timing. There’s even an enjoyably OTT plot that incorporates your marble flinging antics.

Score: 7/10

Gambonanza

iOS & Android, £5.99 (Stray Fawn Studio)

Along with Shotgun King, Pawnbarian, and a clutch of other recent releases, games subverting chess have been having a real boom period. Gambonanza is the latest.

Another roguelite, each of its levels is a puzzle that gets you to use chess pieces and moves to wipe out your computer-controlled opponent. Captured pieces disappear forever, but you can buy more between rounds, along with perk conferring gambits that stack, creating powerful combinations.

Your AI adversary occasionally makes confusingly foolish mistakes in early rounds, but that doesn’t diminish the significant challenge, in this highly polished and mentally taxing game that feels as though it was made for touchscreen.

Score: 8/10

Slime Rancher

iOS & Android, £7.99 (Playdigious)

First person space-based farming simulator Slime Rancher makes its mobile debut. Once again, you’ll be using your vac-pac to Hoover up friendly-looking slimes, along with their favourite food stuffs, before firing them into transparent walled pens and harvesting their freshly excreted ‘plorts’, which you can sell for cash.

Consuming the plorts of other slime breeds turns them into bulkier largos, but if they happen to then eat a third variety of plort, they’ll morph into aggressive monsters, so you need to take care when hybridising your flock.

Buy yourself a jetpack, water cannon, dash boots, new map areas, and cosmetic decorations for your ranch as you expand and automate your operation, in this quirky and modestly compelling game, whose mellow pace makes it ideal for touchscreen.

Score: 7/10

What’s the Password?

iOS & Android, £4.99 (Trampoline Tales)

Well, not a password so much as a PIN, but the premise of this single-minded puzzle game immediately lends itself to mobile, its keypad and clues fitting neatly on a single screen. Your job is to work out what four-digit number each clue is pointing you towards by simply keying it in.

Clues are pretty diverse, ranging from the extremely obvious to the cryptic, with some comprising clever conceits to obfuscate what is at heart quite a simple string of numbers, the game letting you skip and come back to any that truly stump you.

While occasionally head scratching, there are slightly too many of its levels that feel a little obvious, undermining the sense of satisfaction. Still, it’s a neat – if fleeting – distraction and solid use of a phone screen.

Score: 5/10

Phoenix 2

for iOS & Android, free (Firi Games)

Phoenix 2 is a vertical bullet hell shmup of the kind made famous in the late 1980s, although with a thoroughly modern high resolution 100Hz presentation. Originally released a decade ago, it’s recently received a game-changing update that lets you upgrade its 100 tiny, wonderfully detailed collectible spaceships with individual mods.

While not all of those add-ons are particularly useful, some prove spectacularly powerful, letting you augment abilities in genuinely new ways, adding an extra level of challenge to the game’s speed runs now that players are all equipped slightly differently.

The game’s high production values are typified by graphically diverse ships, each of which comes with its own main and auxiliary armaments, and exquisitely designed sound effects that are even more impressive wearing headphones. If you’ve ever enjoyed a 2D shooter this one’s well worth your time, and for PC owners it’s also just come out of early access on Steam.

Score: 8/10

Mystic Motors: Car Racing Game

iOS & Android, free (Tec Ventures)

Mystic Motors’ twist on standard driving games is that you can cast spells from behind the wheel. Why that is, and exactly what’s added a dash of Gandalf to motor racing, is never even addressed.

Instead, you just jump right in with a clutch of three spells you’re allowed to bring with you to each race event. Unfortunately, the ham-fisted attempt at arcade style car-handling is only the first of many problems.

Technically, it’s shaky right from the start, the first crash for us occurring on the loading screen for the tutorial race, the next when opening our inaugural loot crate. Spells launch and land without sound effects, and the whole enterprise has the air of something abandoned half-finished.

It’s abysmally poor, and exactly why its developer was optimistic enough to release it with a monstrous £199 microtransaction is a mystery for the ages.

Score: 2/10

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