Rome prosecutors are probing Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero of the Communist Refoundation Party in connection with his controversial nomination of a former Red Brigade terrorist as part of a government advisory panel on drugs. Ferrero has already annulled the appointment…

A resurgent Red Brigades group smashed earlier this week was ready to strike using automatic weapons and fake police uniforms, Italian officials said on Thursday. The arms cache discovered Wednesday near Padua, officials said, included a kalashnikov, an Uzi, three…