how about when your legion has locked onto an enemy base, the "enemy base" tab under the battle tab should be marked with a check mark or something so you know there is a base locked without actually clicking on the tab....????

no checkmark, no base is locked.

I think this is a good idea. For those legions that are very active there can be alot of chatter. That means you would need to scroll do pretty far in the chat log to notice the message. I am all for any suggestion that adds to the game and doesnt hinder anyone at the same time.+1

Allow leaders/officers (depends on permissions) to highlight:
One planet alert
One NPC/base alert
One Player alert
at any given time.
OR Base alerts.
By highlighting, the alert is shown at the top of the relevant page (as well as the news feed), and the officer/leader can leave a comment on it.

This does not increase the alert duration. It just helps to coordinate people and highlight important things. Examples:

Please guard (planet) for 12 hours until alert wears off.
Do not hit (player). Issue resolved.
Only 6 hours left on this NPC - please finish off.
Wait until 4 hours left and then destroy the base.