MIAMI, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Hurricane Ike, a powerful and dangerous Category 4 storm producing 135 mph winds, will pass south of the Florida Keys, meteorologists said Sunday.

As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Ike was 130 miles east-northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba, moving nearly due west at 15 mph. Forecasters from the U.S. National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted Ike would traverse Cuba lengthwise from east to west starting Sunday night before exiting into the warm Gulf of Mexico waters and heading toward Louisiana late Monday.

The Cuban government issued hurricane warnings for the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Las Tunas, Granma, Camaguey and Ciego de Avila. Storm surges of 13 to 18 feet above normal were predicted for Cuba and the Bahamas, while residents of the Florida Keys were urged to stay on the lookout for hurricane-force winds, the weather service said.

"It looks like Ike will pass south of the Keys over the north coast of Cuba or in between Cuba and Keys making a northwest turn which will put it into the Gulf," AccuWeather.com meteorologist Dan Kottloswki said.

U.S. takes over Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM), Freddie Mac. (NYSE:FRE)br />
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday the federal government will take over teetering giant mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Paulson said the intervention was necessary because they are "critical to turning the corner on housing."

"Through the four actions we have taken today, (the Federal Housing Finance Agency) and Treasury have acted on the responsibilities we have to protect the stability of the financial markets, including the mortgage market, and to protect the taxpayer to the maximum extent possible," Paulson said in a statement.

The move came after a published report indicated the companies, which own or back $5.3 trillion in mortgages, failed to properly account for losses, using questionable accounting methods to push them into the future so that they wouldn't need to be reported until next year, sources told The New York Times. (NYSE:NYT)

Paulson's decision will mean the Treasury Department will begin buying mortgage securities in a move meant to bolster confidence by the companies' foreign debt holders, hopefully restoring confidence to the credit markets and bringing stability to the U.S. stock market.

The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is likely to cost U.S. taxpayers tens of billion of dollars, the newspaper said.

Official: Eight dead in Afghan bombing

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Dual suicide bombers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, targeting a high-ranking police commander killed eight people Sunday, an official said.

Kandahar provincial council head Ahmad Wali Karzai said the victims included six police officers, but police commander Abdul Razaaq Khan survived the attack, CNN reported.

Provincial police chief Matiullah Khan confirmed the report that Khan survived the attack with some injuries, but said the death toll was only at two people with 29 people injured. Khan said the two suicide bombers were killed in the blasts.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi said members of his militant group had carried out the deadly attack.

Ahmadi confirmed the bombers had been trying to kill Khan, who previously has been targeted by militants for his efforts to secure the Afghan/Pakistani border.

CNN said a suspected militant captured earlier this year allegedly confessed to a plot to kill Khan that was spoiled when the commander's bodyguards captured the would-be bomber.

MPLA takes big lead in Angola elections

LUANDA, Angola, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Election officials say Angola's ruling party appears headed to an overwhelming victory at the polls.

The MPLA party, or the Union for the Total Independence of Angola, had received 81 percent support in the first 35 percent of ballots counted. The main opposition party, Unita, received just 10 percent, the BBC reported Sunday.

A total of 14 parties took part in Angola's first elections in 16 years. Final vote tallies are not expected for up to 10 days.

Unita is already demanding the elections be re-run in the capital, Luanda, where, they say, the polling process was chaotic and many voters could not obtain ballots.

But government officials kept polling places open an extra day in response. Reportedly an African observer team called the elections credible.

MPLA has called Unita "bad losers" and is already claiming electoral victory.