The 2016 presidential campaign has been a roller coaster ride with twists and turns that left voters alternately elated, distraught and in the end, just downright exhausted.

Donald Trump is headed to the White House after defeating Hillary Clinton in a shock upset, concluding a bruising 18-month campaign unlike any other in modern American history.

Donald Trump's improbable victory in the US presidential election provoked global shock and angst on Wednesday over the implications for everything from trade to human rights and climate change.

The bombastic billionaire defeated Hillary Clinton in a result that few predicted, as millions of American voters shrugged off concerns over his temperament, lack of experience, and accusations of sexist and racist behaviour.

The American presidential election falls this year on November 8. The quadrennial exercise always takes place on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

Here is a primer on the U.S. election system:

One year on from the Paris massacres, the gritty district in Brussels that was the launchpad for the attacks is struggling to shed its reputation as a jihadist hotbed.

Ammunition strapped across his chest and armed with a Dragunov sniper rifle, Ahmed Thair Jassem of Iraq's 9th Armored Division boasts of the jihadists he has killed in the battle for Mosul.

Two years after they withdrew from Mosul broken and defeated, Iraqi forces have capped a dramatic turnaround by reaching the largest city they lost to the Islamic State group.

Iraq launched an offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State group two weeks ago. Here is what we know so far about the country's biggest military operation in years:

Iraq's elite Rapid Response Division, which is now at the forefront of the southern advance on Mosul, has emerged as a key assault force in the country's war against jihadists.

As Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition inch towards the Islamic State group in Mosul, experts and security sources warn that any assault on the jihadists' main Syrian stronghold of Raqa would be even more difficult.

For hardliners in Iran, running down the United States has become a lot easier during the U.S. election campaign -- it's just a matter of turning on the television.