With nothing "selected" the function buttons are effectively greyed out, but it isn't all that clear when something /has/ been selected for action; the change in the appearance of the 4 new buttons is fairly minimal.
Agreed.
* Being cautious I didn't put this to the test but can we assume that the /Delete/ function requires confirmation before deletion actually occurs, much as it does now?
It does.
It puts up a Verify Delete dialog box that cites the number of topics selected and asks if you want to delete them. It has Cancel and Yes buttons.