
Harry Potter actress Emma Watson banned from driving for speeding
Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film franchise, drove 38mph in a 30mph zone in Oxford on the evening of 31 July last year.
Watson already had nine points on her licence before the speeding incident occurred, the court heard.
The 35-year-old, now a student, was made to pay a total of £1,044 at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
She did not attend the five-minute hearing. Representatives for Watson have been approached for comment.
The actress has been studying a master's degree in creative writing at the University of Oxford since 2023.
Watson shot to fame in 2001 with the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, alongside fellow child stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.
She starred in eight Potter films in total, with the last being released in 2011, before going on to appear in movies such as Beauty and the Beast, The Bling Ring and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Watson's last film role was in the 2019 remake of Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig. She launched her own sustainable gin brand with her brother in 2023.
A new TV adaptation of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books is currently in production, starring Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron.
John Lithgow has been cast as Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.
The series, being produced by HBO, is expected to take a decade to complete.
Separately, another Harry Potter actress, Zoe Wanamaker, was fined for speeding on the same day and in the same court as Watson.
Wanamaker, who played Madam Hooch in the wizarding series, was caught speeding on 7 August 2024, on the M4 in Newbury, Berkshire.
The 76-year-old was driving at 46mph in a 40mph limit, the court heard.
She was also fined £1,044 and banned for six months.
Wanamaker's lawyer Duncan Jones said that she was not asking for "special treatment" and accepted the fine.
Like Watson, Wanamaker had nine points on her licence before the speeding incident occurred.
District Judge Arvind Sharma, sentencing, endorsed three more points on both stars' licences, meaning both are disqualified for six months. — BBC
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Saudi Gazette
Palestine Red Crescent says Israeli strike on Gaza HQ kills worker, injures three
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) accused Israeli forces on Sunday of striking its headquarters in southern Gaza, killing one worker and wounding three others. In a statement, the humanitarian group said the early morning attack on its Khan Younis facility sparked a fire in the building, which is 'well known' to the Israeli military and 'clearly marked with the protective red emblem.' It called the strike 'deliberate' and renewed its appeal for accountability and protection of humanitarian and medical staff. The PRCS identified the slain worker as Omar Isleem and said two other staff members were injured, along with a civilian who was attempting to put out the fire. Images shared by the group showed heavy structural damage, debris-filled offices and large bloodstains. When asked about the incident, the Israel Defense Forces told the BBC it had 'no knowledge about neither artillery nor any air strikes' targeting the facility. The attack comes as Gaza's humanitarian crisis deepens. UN figures indicate that at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed since late May while trying to access food, most near Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites. Israel disputes the UN's figures and accuses Hamas of fomenting chaos at the aid centres, while denying that its forces intentionally target civilians. Egyptian state media reported Sunday that two fuel trucks were waiting to enter Gaza amid ongoing shortages that have crippled hospitals and aid operations. The Hamas-run health ministry says 175 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition. Israel launched its Gaza campaign after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Since then, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry. — BBC


Saudi Gazette
4 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Iran drives out 1.5 million Afghans, with some branded spies for Israel
SINGAPORE — Ali Ahmad's eyes fill with tears as he lifts his shirt to show deep bruises across his back. While he was detained, Iranian officers struck him and accused him of spying, he says. "They used hoses, water pipes and wooden boards to beat me. They treated us like animals." He was speaking to the BBC earlier this month at Islam Qala on the two countries' border, before crossing back over to Afghanistan. His name has been changed to protect his identity. Iran, which says it hosts more than four million undocumented Afghans who fled conflict in their homeland, has been stepping up deportations for months. In March those without papers were given a July deadline to depart voluntarily, but since a brief war with Israel in June, the authorities have forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of Afghans, alleging national security concerns. Daily returns peaked at about 50,000 people in early July, according to the United Nations – often after arduous journeys. Ali Ahmad says Iranian officials confiscated his money and phone and left him without "a single penny to travel back". He'd lived in Iran for two and a half crackdown has coincided with widespread accusations linking Afghans to Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, including Iranian media reports that cite police sources claiming some individuals were arrested for espionage."We're afraid to go anywhere, constantly worried that we might be labelled as spies," one person, who wished to remain anonymous, told BBC News Afghan."You Afghans are spies", "You work for Israel" or "You build drones in your homes", are other frequent accusations, according to this Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan who served as senior adviser to the US Department of State, says Tehran may be "looking for scapegoats" for its shortcomings in the war against Israel."The Iranian government is very embarrassed by their security failures", which show Iran "was very thoroughly penetrated by Israeli intelligence", he says."So they had to find someone to blame."Critics also say the accusations of espionage are aimed at buying legitimacy for the government's plan to deport undocumented BBC attempted to contact the Iranian government but did not receive a response. The return of Afghan refugees "without tension and with respect for human rights... is a goal pursued at all levels", the state-backed Islamic Republic News Agency said on 18 Rezaee, whose name has also been changed, has a similar story to Ali the detention centre where he was held, about 15 Iranian officers physically harmed him and other deportees, Abdullah told the BBC at Islam Qala."Iranian police tore up my visa and passport and beat me severely. They accused me of being a spy."Abdullah says he'd only been in Iran two months before being detained, despite having a visa."They beat us with plastic batons and said: 'You're a spy, you're ruining our country'."The four days he was detained "felt like four years". He describes constant mistreatment, physical abuse and lack of online allegations of collaboration between Afghans and Israeli secret services started early in the 13 June, the day Israel attacked Iranian nuclear and military facilities, the government issued statements to the population, asking citizens to report suspicious activities such as unusual movements of vans, which might be transporting Israeli operatives' Telegram channels with large followings posted warning messages using similar wording to the government's. But they added that the population should be vigilant of "alien citizens" – an expression mostly used to describe Afghans in Iran – driving vans in big following day, a series of detentions of people allegedly connected to the Israeli attacks, including some Afghans, were 16 June, news channels broadcast a video of Afghans being detained claiming that they had been carrying drones with them. It went viral. But the video was old, and portrayed migrants detained due to their undocumented 18 June, a Telegram group attributed to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps posted that 18 Afghans had been arrested in the city of Mashhad for building drones for Israel, according to the independent monitoring group Afghan following day, the provincial deputy security chief was quoted saying the arrest had "no connection to drone-making" or co-operation with Israel. "They were arrested solely for being in Iran illegally."But posts connecting the arrests to espionage had spread widely on social media platforms. A hashtag saying the "expulsion of Afghans is a national demand" was shared more than 200,000 times on X in the space of a month, peaking at more than 20,000 mentions on 2 sentiment on Iranian social media is not new, but the difference this time is "the misinformation is not just coming from social media users but from Iranian-affiliated media", according to an independent researcher at Afghan conflict started when Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran, and then Iran retaliated with aerial attacks targeting than 1.5 million Afghans have left Iran since January, according to the UN Refugee Agency. A spokesperson from the Taliban's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation told the BBC that more than 918,000 Afghans entered Afghanistan from Iran between 22 June - 22 had been in Iran for of Afghans have fled to Iran and Pakistan since the 1970s, with major waves during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and more recently in 2021, when the Taliban returned to warn Afghanistan lacks the capacity to absorb the growing number of nationals forcibly returned to a country under Taliban rule. The country is already struggling with a large influx of returnees from Pakistan, which is also forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghans to first, Afghans were welcomed in Iran, says Dr Khadija Abbasi, who specialises in forced displacement at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. But anti-Afghan sentiment increased gradually, with state media portraying Afghan refugees as an "economic burden" to society, she narratives about Afghan migrants in Iran followed the 1990s, a series of rapes and murders in Tehran was widely assumed, without evidence, to be the work of an Afghan, which led to a rise in hate crimes. It was later revealed that the killer was an estimated two million Afghans migrated to Iran in the post-2021 wave, exaggerated posts on social media claimed more than 10 million Afghans were living in the country. Iran had been the only neighbour to allow refugees and migrants to enter at scale during that of Afghans from Iran, says Dr Abbasi, "might be one of the very rare topics that most Iranians" are in agreement with the government – although in July more than 1,300 Iranian and Afghan activists signed an open letter calling for an end to "inhumane" treatment of Afghan citizens in anti-Afghan sentiment is widespread. "It has become very dangerous," she says, "so people will just try to stay at home."For huge numbers that is no longer an option. The border continues to swell with Abdullah the deportation has destroyed his plans."I lost everything," he says. — BBC


Saudi Gazette
4 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Russian strikes hit Kyiv apartment block
KYIV — Eight people have been killed and more than 130 others were wounded in a barrage of Russian drones and missiles that struck several districts of Kyiv and brought down an apartment block overnight, Ukrainian officials have said. A six-year-old boy and his mother were among the dead, as more than two dozen locations across the capital were hit. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 12 children were among the wounded - the biggest number of children wounded in Kyiv in one night since the full-scale war began. Russian attacks have continued despite US President Donald Trump's threat to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire by 8 August. The high-pitched hum of Russian drones could be heard for hours over the city, interrupted by the occasional loud thunder clap of a missile strike. Russia launched 309 drones and eight cruise missiles during the night, according to Ukraine's air force. And although officials say air defences did manage to destroy many of them, there were numerous hits including from cruise missiles. A red-orange glow indicated destruction on the ground. These were the biggest airstrikes since Trump brought forward an earlier deadline to Putin. The threat of more US sanctions appears to have done little to persuade the Russian president to change course. Meanwhile, Russia claimed further success on the battlefield, declaring that it had captured the strategically important hilltop town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine denied it had fallen, however, and military analysts said fighting there was continuing. — BBC