News of independent country taking shape (11)
I believe the answer is:
information
'news' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'independent country taking shape' is the wordplay.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'country' becomes 'nation' (synonyms).
'taking' is an insertion indicator.
'shape' becomes 'form' (synonyms).
'nation' going around 'form' is 'nformation'.
'i'+'nformation'='INFORMATION'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for information that I've seen before include "Facts or knowledge" , "Data" , "News" , "Dope" , "What one needs to know" .)