Italian police on Friday placed 12 doctors under house arrest on suspicion of promoting baby milk formula over breastfeeding in exchange for kickbacks including luxury holidays.

The doctors had been bribed by several companies to prescribe baby formula for rewards worth thousands of euros, including iPhones, televisions, cruises and trips to the United States, India and Paris, the police said.

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to India in January for its Republic Day celebrations, and talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House said Friday.

"The president will meet with the prime minister and Indian officials to strengthen and expand the U.S.-India strategic partnership," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Indian police were Thursday scouring the ashram of a controversial guru for explosives, hours after his arrest ended a violent stand-off with thousands of followers that left six people dead.

Police arrested self-styled "godman" Rampal Maharaj late Wednesday, more than 24 hours after they stormed the heavily guarded ashram in northern Haryana state using water cannon, tear gas and batons.

Police on Wednesday arrested a guru after a violent stand-off with thousands of followers at his sprawling ashram in northern India, where the bodies of four women and a child have been found.

Supporters of self-styled "godman" Rampal Maharaj, who is wanted on a series of charges including conspiracy to murder, had guarded the ashram for days armed with stones, petrol bombs and other weapons after a court ordered his arrest.

The deaths of 13 Indian women allegedly given tainted antibiotics after undergoing sterilization surgery have raised fresh questions about India's giant drug industry, already under international scrutiny over its troubled safety record.

India exports $15 billion in over-the-counter and generic prescription drugs annually and is the second-largest supplier of drugs to the United States after Canada, earning it the title of "pharmacy to the world".

Police discovered five bodies Wednesday after storming the ashram of a wanted guru in northern India where thousands of followers have been holed up for days, as a sixth supporter died in hospital.

Authorities made the discovery after they used tear gas and batons to force their way into the heavily-guarded ashram of self-styled "godman" Rampal Maharaj, who is wanted on a series of charges including conspiracy to murder.

Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has won a lengthy court battle against Indian tax authorities, marking a significant victory for multinationals involved in taxation wrangles in the country.

The Bombay High Court ruled in favor of Shell, whose Indian unit had been accused of under-pricing shares issued to its parent firm by about 180-billion rupees ($3 billion).

India has defended a state-run program that offers poor women cash incentives to get sterilized after the deaths of 13 women triggered international condemnation.

Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said it was a "misconception" that India set sterilization targets for local authorities in an effort to control the growth of its billion-plus population.

An Indian military court has sentenced seven soldiers to life in prison for killing three Kashmiri youths in a rare ruling against the army, the tense region's top official said Thursday.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the soldiers shot dead the youths in 2010 after staging a gun battle and claiming they were trying to sneak across the disputed border from arch rival Pakistan.

Eight women have died in India and dozens more are in a critical condition after a state-run sterilization program designed to control the country's billion-plus population went badly wrong.

More than 60 women are in hospital after suffering complications from the surgery over the weekend and 24 of them are seriously ill, authorities in the central state of Chhattisgarh said Tuesday.