IMF looks to stave off looming Ukraine default

The second-in-command at the International Monetary Fund heads to Ukraine this weekend to gauge whether its Western-backed leaders are committed enough to overhauling their crippled economy to justify another financial lifeline. The Fund's First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton -- a White House veteran who spearheaded the US response to the 1998 Asian financial crisis -- will arrive in a war-scarred nation that stands helpless in the face of a looming debt default. The architects of th