There could well be birthday candles on the Christmas cake in Rachel Harte’s house from now on — as a happy reminder of the dramatic roadside birth of her baby girl Sienna on Christmas Day.

IRANIANS went to the polls yesterday in a high-stakes election shaping up as the closest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with young people disillusioned by the theocracy calling for a boycott of the balloting.

Fearing a boycott after all reformist candidates were disqualified from Iran’s upcoming elections, the country’s supreme leader ordered the applications of some candidates be reviewed today, state-run television reported.