PRELIMINARY results show an ally of Kazakhstan’s former president has won the country’s presidential election.

Sunday’s vote was marred by a police crackdown on protestors, who took to the streets amid accusations of cronyism.

The country’s Central Election Commission said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev won nearly 71% of the vote with all of the ballots counted.

Tokayev became acting president when Nursultan Nazarbayev, who had led the country since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, stepped down.

Shortly after Nazarbayev’s departure, Kazakhstan’s ruling party nominated Tokayev.

The move was seen by many as an orchestrated handover of power.

Some 500 people were taken into custody by police.

ELSEWHERE, A woman has been killed and six other people injured after a crane collapsed on an apartment building in Texas amid severe thunderstorms.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said that the woman was killed when the crane cut a gash in the building, apparently slicing through some of the apartments.

Evans said it is too early to say whether there may be more people injured or killed.

“We only hope that what we’ve found up to this point is where the damage and where the impact stops,” he said.

Of those injured, two were listed in a critical condition, three had suffered serious injuries and one suffered minor injuries.

The crane fell after the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area, warning of heavy rain, damaging gusts and large hail.

The weather service said winds could exceed 70mph.

MEANWHILE, At least 95 people are dead following the latest massacre in central Mali blamed on tensions between ethnic militias.

It comes amid rising tensions between ethnic Dogons and ethnic Peuhls, who had threatened reprisal attacks following killings earlier this year.

The violence is exacerbated by the presence of Islamic extremists in the area.

FINALLY, Pakistan’s anti-corruption body has arrested former president and widower of assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, in a multi-million dollar money laundering case.

Yesterday’s development came hours after an Islamabad court rejected Zadari’s bail extension request.

Zardari, currently a politician in the Pakistani parliament, and his sister, also a politician, have been accused of having dozens of bogus bank accounts.

The pair appeared in court yesterday amid tight security.