Military leader has news about half of army line (7)
I believe the answer is:
warlord
'military leader' is the definition.
('warlord' can be a synonym of 'military leader')
'news about half of army line' is the wordplay.
'news' becomes 'word' ('word' can be a synonym of 'news'**).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'half of' means to take half the letters.
'line' becomes 'l'.
'army' with half the letters taken is 'ar'.
'ar'+'l'='arl'
'word' enclosing 'arl' is 'WARLORD'.
'has' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for warlord that I've seen before include "Regional military commander" , "Military leader" .)