Ireland's governing Fine Gael party has elected Leo Varadkar, the gay son of an Indian immigrant, as its new leader and the country's likely next prime minister. He is highly likely to become prime minister in Ireland's coalition government, although not immediately. At 38, Varadkar will be Ireland's youngest leader, as well as the first from an ethnic-minority background and the first openly gay leader. He came out publicly as gay in the run-up to a 2015 referendum that legalized same-sex marriage in Ireland. If confirmed as prime minister, Varadkar will lead a country still emerging from the shadow of the 2008 global financial crisis, which hit the debt-fuelled "Celtic Tiger" economy particularly hard after a period of rapid growth.

Source: CBC News June 02, 2017 19:11 UTC