This idea came from looking at blame's news segment on the standard forums.

It would be interesting to have a news feed showing all the most recent battles that have gone down in the universe, much like the top battles ranking.
The difference would be the only shown information would be the players involved and the damage done to each one.
Any improvements or flaws with this idea?

You're searching for flaw - here is one:
If the news feed is instant - there will be D/F hunters... Watching there and waiting to launch recs...
If the news feed is not instant - it's no longer a news feed (as the battle could be already in forums)...

Two points here can make the instant method work.
A) There is NO location , or indication of location given. Let players hunt through all 9 galaxies for a df, by the time they find it the lot will be gone.
B) Unless you are a noob, the recs you sent or the enemy sent should be enroute and close enough already. Therefore another player couldn't pick it up unless they somehow managed a launch before your recs, or from closer.

I like this idea. I don't think there are any problems with this.

Point A: Usually, all alliances have all other alliances mapped. It takes like 2-3 mins to find out the exact location.
Point B: When you attack someone who is online, or should be online soon - sometimes your recs can arrive even 30 mins after the fight.

And big NO from me.

How do you know that there was a DF? How do you know that it wouldn't just become another game mechanic?

Well, let's leave that decision to Zorg - it's clear that I won't convince you to my point, and you cannot convince me to your point...

I actually thought people were kidding when they said forums were hostile places!

I thought that the game was sort of "My little pony"... It seemed that way before I got crashed the first time...

symbolseka - no hostile attitude or harm meant... Those are ingame tactics. Simply tried to defend my point of view