A decision by an Egyptian court to cancel April legislative polls is a blow to Islamist President Mohamed Morsi who is seen by some analysts as failing to steer the country's post-revolution transition.

The Philippines on Thursday strongly condemned the hostage-taking of 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone and demanded their immediate release.

Policemen across Egypt staged a strike on Thursday to demand the resignation of the interior minister, saying they no longer wanted to be used as a political tool, security officials said.

Syrian rebels held hostage 21 UN peacekeepers patrolling the sensitive armistice line with Israel for a second day on Thursday, defying a chorus of international condemnation and calls for their release.

Syrian rebels held hostage 21 UN peacekeepers patrolling the sensitive armistice line with Israel for a second day on Thursday, defying a chorus of international condemnation and calls for their release.

UN officials said negotiations were under way Thursday with Syrian rebels who seized 21 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone between Syria and Israel, as rebels took total control of the key northern city of Raqa.

The Philippines called Thursday for the immediate release of 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers taken hostage by Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone.

Syrian rebels on Wednesday said they seized some 20 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel as rebels took total control of the key northern city of Raqa.

Syrian rebels on Wednesday abducted more than 20 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone pushing back the frontier of their war with President Bashar al-Assad.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday demanded that Syrian rebel fighters release more than 20 UN peacekeepers abducted in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone.

Residents of Port Said, plagued by weeks of deadly clashes between protesters and security forces, say they want the reviled police force out of their canal city and the army to take control.

Egypt's administrative court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of controversial parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22, throwing the country deeper into political crisis.

One million Syrians have fled their homeland since a revolt erupted two years ago, the UN said on Wednesday, as monitors said regime warplanes struck rebel enclaves in flashpoints across the country.

Armed fighters on Wednesday detained about 20 UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel, a UN spokesman said.

The head of security in Port Said was sacked on Wednesday, security officials told AFP, as violence raged in the Egyptian canal city.

Britain will provide body armour and armoured vehicles to the rebels battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that "a lot of countries" are training Syrian rebels as part of stepped up efforts to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

One million Syrians have fled their homeland since a revolt erupted two years ago, the UN said on Wednesday, as fighting between rebels and loyalists raged across central and northern battlefields.

Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has sided with the rebel Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group which Washington lists as a "terrorist organisation', in the Syrian conflict.

New clashes between police and protesters erupted on Wednesday in the Egyptian city of Port Said, the scene of several days of unrest, AFP reporters said.