TOP HEADLINES 

· Neil Young's music is being removed from Spotify's streaming service after the singer-songwriter objected to his songs playing on the same platform as podcaster Joe Rogan, who has been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. 

Earlier this week, Young had released an open letter to his manager and record label Warner Music Group, demanding that Spotify, which is the exclusive host of Rogan's podcast, remove Young's music, stating the platform had "a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation." 

On Wednesday, the Heart of Gold and Rocking In the Free World singer thanked his record label for "standing with me in my decision to pull all my music from Spotify," and he encouraged other musicians to do the same.

· The Israeli government said protesters against COVID-19 measures who liken themselves to Jews under Nazi persecution are stoking global anti-Semitism, in a report marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Several U.S. and British politicians have in recent months apologized after suggesting vaccine or lockdown policies recalled Hitler's regime.

· German soccer Coach Markus Anfang has been banned for one year and fined 20,000 euros ($22,564) after admitting to using a fake COVID-19 vaccination certificate, the German Football Association (DFB) said. Anfang initially denied the charges and quit his job at second-tier club Werder Bremen in November after German authorities launched an investigation into his use of a fake certificate. Anfang's former assistant Florian Junge, who worked with him at Werder, was banned for 10 months and fined 3,000 euros. A DFB statement said Anfang, who has since confessed, obtained fake vaccination cards in the summer of 2021, which allowed him to circumvent regular testing.

· Germany's number of new infections exceeded 200,000 in a day for the first time on Thursday, hitting staffing at companies including Lufthansa Cargo. The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 203,136 positive tests in the last 24 hours, 69,600 more than the same day a week ago.

· Booster shots could reduce future hospitalizations in Europe by at least half a million, the European Union's public health agency said, even as the Omicron variant spreads at an unprecedented pace. "The current uptake of a booster dose achieved by early January may reduce future Omicron hospital admissions by 500,000 to 800,000" in Europe, the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control said.

· The Sue Gray report into allegations of parties and social gatherings that broke UK lockdown rules could "hypothetically" be published on Thursday or Friday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. 

The Downing Street official told members of the media the PM's office had had "no sight [of it] whatsoever," and would have to seek guidance from the speaker of the House of Commons if it were to arrive on Friday evening after parliament has shut for the weekend. "We would need to make a decision in conjunction with the Speaker about what he thought was acceptable, obviously balancing the significant public interest in having sight of the report," he told reporters.