>In the new layout, between Replies and Notifications, is now "Latest news". This, as other options nearby, is using a customized counter to let you know about new postings about News and such. This is basically what you have on the main page. So, while being in the support area, as soon as new news are posted, the red counter will appear indicating the quantity. There is always a black color counter indicating the number of news in the last 30 days, allowing to view the recent list of news.

I'm kinda with Dmitry and Sergey on this - it looks sorta cool and all - but I don't see any practical use for it.