If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry.

I think it is fair to say that it is under a great deal of stress, and if I am asking for significant changes, it is because the world is going through significant changes.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi grabbed full power for himself. Not even the pharaohs had so much authority, to say nothing of his predecessor Hosni Mubarak. This is a catastrophe - it a mockery of the revolution that brought him to power and an act that leads one to fear the worst.

The Germans should be the first to sympathize with us [Egyptians]. They know how difficult it is to build a democracy following a dictatorship, and they were the first to be critical of Morsi's anti-democratic policies.

Youre shooting yourself in the foot if you isolate or disempower the moderates.

Music gives me a lot of peace, either classic music with its structure or the spontaneity of Miles Davis. It brings the best in you.

I grew up in a conservative household. That was the life of the time in Egypt: a conservative, middle-class household.