CAIRO — The Egyptian government has stepped up a campaign to curb Muslim Brotherhood influence over mosques, saying it has licensed more than 17,000 state-approved clerics to give Friday sermons to stop places of worship falling “into the hands of extremists.” The military-backed authorities have been trying to bring mosques under tighter control since the army toppled Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July after mass protests against his rule. All of the newly-approved clerics had been trained at Al-Azhar University, which is a respected center of Sunni Islamic learning, and institutions run by the ministry of religious endowments, according to a statement issued by the prime minister's office on Thursday. – Reuters
