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The Crown has won the best drama series Emmy Award, while Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso took best comedy series honours.

The Crown stars Olivia Colman and Josh O'Connor won the top drama acting honours today, with Jason Sudeikis, star of the warm-hearted Ted Lasso, and Jean Smart of the generation-gap story Hacks, winners on the comedy side.

Colman and O'Connor were a winning fictional mother-son duo: She plays Queen Elizabeth II, with O'Connor as Prince Charles in the British royal family saga that combines gravitas and soap opera.

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"I'd have put money on that not happening," Colman said of the award, calling it "a lovely end to the most extraordinary journey" with the show's cast and creators. She cut her remarks short, explaining why she was growing tearful.

"I lost my daddy during COVID, and he would have loved all of this," she said.

O'Connor gave a shout-out to Emma Corwin, who played opposite him as Princess Diana and was also a nominee Sunday, as a "force of nature."

He also offered thanks to his grandparents, including his grandmother who died a few months ago, and his grandfather, Peter O'Connor, for the "greatest gifts" of kindness and loyalty."

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Sudeikis, who also produces the series that many viewers found a balm for tough pandemic times, gave a speech that evoked the chipper, upbeat character he plays in the series about a UK soccer team and its unlikely American coach.

"This show's about families and mentors and teammates, and I wouldn't be here without those things in my life," said Sudeikis. He also thanked his fellow castmates, saying "I'm only as good as you guys make me look."

Smart, who received a standing ovation, began her acceptance speech on a sombre note: Her husband actor, Richard Gilliland, died six months ago.

"I would not be here without him" and his willingness to put her career first, said Smart. She also praised their two children as "courageous individuals in their own right."

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Earlier in the evening, ebullient Ted Lasso castmate Hannah Waddingham, winner of the best supporting actress award for a comedy, said Sudeikis "changed my life with this, and more importantly my baby girl's."

The show's Brett Goldstein, who won the counterpart award for supporting actor, said he had promised not to swear and either mimed or was muted for a few seconds, then called the show the "privilege and pleasure" of his life.

Gillian Anderson and Tobias Menzies of British royal drama The Crown were honoured for their supporting performances. The series also picked up writing and directing honours.

Anderson, who played British political leader Margaret Thatcher, used her acceptance speech to thank her manager of 20 years for her mentorship and believing in her talent before she did.

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Menzies who plays Prince Philip, didn't attend the ceremony, which included a London gathering for The Crown nominees.

Before announcing the winner in his category, presenter Kerry Washington saluted another nominee, Michael K Williams of Lovecraft County. Williams died on September 6 at age 54.

"Michael was a brilliantly talented actor and a generous human being who has left us far too soon," Washington said.

Another lost star was remembered by John Oliver of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

"No one was funnier in the last 20 years than Norm Macdonald on late-night comedy," Oliver said in accepting the Emmy for best variety talk show, suggesting people spend time checking out clips of Macdonald, as he did after Macdonald died September 14 at age 61.

Kate Winslet, who played the title character in Mare of Easttown, and Ewan McGregor, who starred in the fashion biopic Halston, were honoured as top actors for a limited series.

Winslet saluted her sister nominees in "this decade that has to be about women having each other's back."

Julianne Nicholson and Evan Peters claimed best supporting acting honors for Mare of Easttown, about crime and family dysfunction.

The script was "true to the horror and beauty of ordinary people's lives," particularly the lives of women, said Nicholson.

Both she and Peters saluted star Winslet.

"Man, you're good at acting. But turns out you're good at caring for a whole production," Nicholson said.

Debbie Allen received the Governors Award for a long and acclaimed career as an actor, dancer, choreographer and activist

"I am trembling with gratitude and grace and trying not to cry … it's been many years in the making, taken a lot of courage to be the only woman in the room most of the time. Courage and creative and fight and faith to believe I could keep going, and I have," she said.

Comedy cracks a mixed bag

The show opened with a musical number that featured host Cedric the Entertainer rapping a modified version of the Biz Markie hip-hop hit "Just a Friend" with lyrics like "TV, you got what I need." LL Cool J bounded from the audience as stars like Rita Wilson, Mandy Moore and more dropped verses celebrating the breadth of television.

Seth Rogen presented the first award, throwing some cold water on the celebratory vibe by noting that the Emmys were being held in a giant tent. "There's way too many of us in this little room," he exclaimed in what seemed to be an attempt to be funny that fell flat.

"Why is there a roof? It's more important that we have three chandeliers than make sure we don't kill Eugene Levy tonight. That is what has been decided."

Cedric the Entertainer worked hard and landed some laugh-getting jokes, but the night's comedy bits were hit and miss — including Stephen Colbert's jokes about California's failed gubernatorial recall and Ken Jeong's effort to get past security and into the show.

Roughly 500 people attended the Emmys in downtown Los Angeles, with fashion standout Billy Porter sporting large wings attached to the sleeves of his black trouser look and Sudeikis walked the red carpet in a velvet suit of soft blue.

The producers' ultimate goal is a ceremony that is upbeat and acknowledges how much TV's importance grew during the pandemic and its lockdowns.

Full list of major Emmy winners

Comedy Series: Ted Lasso

Drama series: The Crown

Limited Series: The Queen's Gambit

Actress, Drama Series: Olivia Colman, The Crown

Actor, Drama Series: Josh O'Connor, The Crown

Actress, Comedy Series: Jean Smart, Hacks

Actor, Comedy Series: Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Actress, Limited Series or TV movie: Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

Actor, Limited Series or TV movie: Ewan McGregor, Halston

Reality-competition program: RuPaul's Drag Race

Writing, Variety Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Variety Talk Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Variety Sketch Series: Saturday Night Live

Writing, Comedy Series: Hacks

Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): Hamilton

Outstanding Variety Special (Live): Stephen Colbert's Election Night 2020: Democracy's Last Stand Building Back America Great Again Better 2020

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Gillian Anderson, The Crown

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Tobias Menzies, The Crown

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Supporting Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie: Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown

Supporting Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie: Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown

Guest Actor, Drama Series: Courtney B Vance, Lovecraft County

Guest Actress, Drama Series: Claire Foy, The Crown

Television Movie: Dolly Parton's Christmas On the Square

Guest Actor, Comedy Series: Dave Chappelle, Saturday Night Live

Guest Actress, Comedy Series: Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live

Structured Reality Program: Queer Eye

Unstructured Reality Program: RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked

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A simple act led to an art history professor discovering a 17th century masterpiece that was thought to have been missing.

Church of the Holy Family is located just a few blocks from the campus of Iona College in New York and Tom Ruggio told CNN he would sometimes visit during the church's "off hours" for the quiet and solitude.

Mr Ruggio lived in Italy for about nine years studying art, and when he walked in the church with the lights a little brighter than normal, he couldn't believe what caught his eye.

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"Up in the middle of the church, high up on the right side, I immediately identified an Italian Baroque painting, and I couldn't believe what I was looking at," Mr Ruggio said.

"So, I got up and started taking pictures with my cell phone and I was very excited. I was initially stunned, but very excited."

Mr Ruggio contacted colleagues in Italy and came to find out the painting was a piece by Cesare Dandini, called "Holy Family with the Infant St John." The painting has been hanging in the church for the past 60 years, but Ruggio estimates it was painted in the 1630s, based on some other works of art.

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The painting is part of a series of four works called "Charity."

Another of the Dandini paintings hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, with a creation date around the same time, and a third is in the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia. The fourth painting is unaccounted for. Mr Ruggio said only a black and white photo proves its existence.

"The four paintings are connected and, fascinatingly enough to me, is doing something that most Baroque painters aren't doing any more in the 17th century. Many of them are going straight to canvas," Mr Ruggio said. "So my contention is, he's part of a Renaissance legacy, and continuing the tradition of working on paper."

The paintings are also painted in a sort of cartoon style, Mr Ruggio said.

"It's pretty fascinating. So, not only do we get a strong – pretty much as I call a slam-dunk – attribution because of the connecting paintings, but we also get a look at its process," he said.

So how did the painting end up in the church all this years? Well, that part is still a mystery, Mr Ruggio said. It's rumoured to have been bought abroad by one of the church's former monsignors in the 1960's, he said.

But now, the painting is being loaned to Iona for three months in an exhibit on campus. It's free for the public and includes reproductions of the corresponding works, and some works that explain Dandini's development and his process.

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The diplomatic ripples from Australia's decision to acquire nuclear powered submarines have been felt across the world.

The new AUKUS alliance between Australia, the US and the UK announced last week is expected to deliver an Australian fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.

The defence agreement marks a major pivot by the three powers towards the Indo Pacific region and the rising power of China.

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But it has received a mixed welcome across the world – with France angry after the Australian Government cancelled the $90 billion contract for majority state-owned French company Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines.

Below is a summary of global reaction to AUKUS.

France: 'Stab in the back'

France feels not just disappointed but betrayed and deceived, with officials unleashing tirades against Australia and the US.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Saturday denounced what he called the "duplicity, disdain and lies" surrounding the sudden end of the contract and said France was now questioning the strength of the alliance.

Speaking on France Info, the French state broadcaster, Mr Le Drian used the phrase "stab in the back". Newspaper Le Parisien said last week "in 48 hours, the 'contract of the century' has become the commercial snub of the century", while French business weekly Challenges, said the scrapping of the submarine deal was "a knife blow to the heart, that no one in France saw coming".

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Much of the French anger came from the city of Cherbourg in northern France – where the Naval Group manufacturing site is based. It stands to lose hundreds of jobs.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell echoed the French minister's complaints. "I suppose that an agreement of this nature was not cooked up the day before yesterday. It takes a certain amount of time, and despite that, no, we were not consulted," he said. "That obliges us, once again … to reflect on the need to put European strategic autonomy high on the agenda."

US: 'This is how global diplomacy works'

US officials have brushed aside the French complaints about AUKUS.

"There are a range of partnerships that include the French and some partnerships that don't, and they have partnerships with other countries that don't include us," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Speaking alongside Foreign Minister Marise Payne in Washington, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there "is no regional divide" with Europe over Indo-Pacific strategy.

"We welcome European countries playing an important role in the Indo-Pacific," he said, calling France a "vital partner."

But how closely they will work together remains to be seen.

Just three months ago, on his first visit to Europe as president, Mr Biden was hailed as a hero by European counterparts eager to move beyond the trans-Atlantic tensions of the Trump years.

UK hails 'strong security ties'

In contrast to France, British politicians have welcomed AUKUS and the move by Australia to acquire nuclear submarines with UK expertise.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new alliance would allow the three nations to sharpen their focus on an increasingly complicated part of the world.

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Newly-appointed Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it showed the UK's readiness to be "hard-headed" in defending its interests.

Ms Truss, writing in the UK Sunday Telegraph, said the partnership showed the UK's commitment to stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

She wrote: "Freedoms need to be defended, so we are also building strong security ties around the world."

China: 'Cold war mentality'

While the Chinese government's reaction to the AUKUS deal was strongly disapproving, it was nothing compared to a blisteringly aggressive editorial published by state-run tabloid the Global Times last week.

The nationalistic tabloid warned if war broke out in Taiwan or the South China Sea "military targets in Australia will inevitably become a target hit by Chinese missiles."

"Australians troops are also most likely to be the first batch of Western soldiers to waste their lives in the South China Sea," the paper said.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the move "gravely undermines regional peace and stability," and "aggravates" the arms race.

Mr Zhao warned the nation would "only end up hurting their own interests" if they didn't abandon the "cold war mentality".

Asia Pacific: Mixed reactions

Malaysia has warned the AUKUS deal could spark a renewed arms race in the region, Reuters reports.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he he had raised concerns about the project with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and warned that the nuclear submarine project might heighten military tensions in Asia.

But other Asia Pacific nations have responded more warmly.

Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi praised the AUKUS deal.

And the Philippines defence ministry issued a statement saying Australia had every right to boost its defences.

Australia's ANZUS partner New Zealand, with its a longstanding nuclear-free policy that includes a ban on nuclear-powered ships entering its ports, is not part of the deal.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand wasn't asked to be part of the alliance and wouldn't have expected an invitation.

– With AP, CNN