RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 22, 2012 -- Xinhua

Some 513 billion U.S. dollars in funding has been committed at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) to achieve a sustainable future, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

In a press release posted on the UN's website, Ban said he was encouraged by the nearly 700 concrete commitments - totally 513 billion dollars-registered at the conference from governments, business, industry, financial institutions and civil society groups, amongst others.

The controversial writer and economist on why she believes the economic rise of China, combined with the west's complacency, leaves us facing a future of terrifying global instability

Drought conditions have been at record levels in the contiguous United States for much of July, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, which began monitoring drought conditions in 1999. The animated map below shows the spread of drought conditions since January 2012.