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Composer Burt Bacharach, whose hits such as Do You Know the Way to San Jose and Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head provided a mellow alternative soundtrack to rock and roll in the 1960s and 1970s, has died at the age of 94, his publicist says.

Bacharach died of natural causes at his home in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday with his family by his side, his publicist told Reuters.

Bacharach's songs, many written in a 16-year collaboration with lyricist Hal David, were neither rock nor strictly pop.

They filled US radio and were featured in major movies, making them as frequently heard in the 1960s and early 1970s as works by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.

Bacharach wrote more than 500 songs, many featuring a tinkling piano and subtly seductive horn hooks.

He penned hits for singers ranging from Dionne Warwick to the Carpenters.

More than 1200 artists performed his songs, which won six Grammys and three Oscars.

Bacharach and David had 30 Top-40 hits in the 1960s alone.

"He was just different," David once told an interviewer.

"Innovative, original. His music spoke to me. I'd hear his melodies and I'd hear lyrics. I'd hear rhymes, I'd hear thoughts and I'd hear it almost immediately."

For Bacharach, his talent was simple: "I'm a person that always tries to deal with melody."

With suave good looks and a cool demeanour, Bacharach was described by songwriter Sammy Cahn as "the only songwriter who doesn't look like a dentist".

Married four times, his wives included fellow songwriter Carole Bayer Sager and actress Angie Dickinson.

Bacharach's songs were recorded by an A-to-Z of artists, literally, from Aretha (Franklin) to Zoot (Sims).

The Bacharach-David collaboration (They Long to Be) Close to You was a worldwide hit for the Carpenters in 1970 and What the World Needs Now Is Love, originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon, was covered more than 150 times.

Bacharach and David frequently displayed a magic touch for Warwick, writing her hits Walk on By, I Say a Little Prayer, In Between the Heartaches and Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

Bacharach's Alfie for the Michael Caine movie of the same name was a hit for Cilla Black and Tom Jones sang his title tune for Woody Allen's What's New Pussycat?.

Other movie music from Bacharach included Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, for which Bacharach and David won two Academy Awards and a Grammy for best score.

His Baby, It's You was recorded by the Beatles, Elvis Costello, Gene Pitney and Perry Como.

He recorded several songs with Nashville songwriter Daniel Tashian during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pair performed a Tiny Desk (home) concert for National Public Radio in September 2020 with Bacharach on piano from his home in Los Angeles and Tashian singing from his garage in Nashville.

"I'm very grateful to be in my house in LA when this lockdown happened," Bachrach said in an interview after the concert shown on YouTube.

"We were supposed to be on tour when the pandemic hit."

At age 92, Bachrach also collaborated with Seattle-based artist Melody Federer.

Asked what it was like to work with a lyricist 60 years his junior, he said age "only has a part if you've lost your edge, your sharpness or your writing... you are supposed to grow and supposed to get better as time goes on".

Born Burt Freeman Bacharach in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 12, 1928, he learned to play the piano - he hated it at first but his mother insisted - after his family moved to New York.

Bacharach served in the US army during the Korean War but wore a tuxedo instead of military fatigues and played piano in officers' clubs across the United States.

© PAA 2023

NRL players could decide late on Friday whether they will use the new pre-season competition to protest at the governing body's handling of protracted collective bargaining negotiations.

The Rugby League Players Association (RLPA) and the NRL were locked in talks late on Thursday as they sought a resolution to the CBA dispute.

Players have hinted at taking fresh action this week as the NRL returns to TV screens with a newly-created Pre-Season Challenge competition.

There are two games scheduled for Friday night with Manly facing Souths and Cronulla playing Newcastle in a double header in Gosford.

The two bodies have been in talks all week, with a CBA for NRLW players a high priority for the game's male players.

The RLPA also hopes to have better funds to support players after they retire or if they suffer injury.

"The women's game is growing rapidly, and the men's game fully supports them," Canterbury hooker Reed Mahoney said on Thursday.

"They deserve to have a CBA and they should because their game is growing.

"I feel like we're the product and we're putting our bodies on the line during pre-season and games.

"We have the right to have those funds open to us when the game does stop."

The NRLW remains the only major professional competition without a CBA and the lack of progress towards their goals of introducing multi-year contracts and a pregnancy policy has created further frustration.

Players have hinted at delaying kick-off times in a bid to disrupt broadcasters this weekend.

Boycotting media engagements and the season launch, covering the NRL badge on jerseys and strike action are all options which have been mooted.

Thursday night's trial between the Warriors and Wests Tigers, however, went ahead without a hitch as both factions were locked in discussions.

Players are increasingly irked with the delay, with Parramatta back-rower Shaun Lane telling AAP this week that the CBA should have been resolved "six months ago".

Any remaining goodwill between the two sides was eroded even further when it was claimed an unnamed NRL staffer tried to record a meeting with NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and a cohort of leading players.

Mahoney claimed players would be willing to go the distance to get what they felt they deserved.

"That (striking) can be what can happen, but hopefully we don't get that far," he added.

"It's been a long process and there's quite a battle on, as players, we're united and we're standing tall for what we believe is right.

"We hope the NRL can come to the party as well and we can move on so we can play the game that we love."

© AAP 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has flown to Brussels to lobby European Union leaders for more weapons - above all, fighter jets - and a quick start to talks for his country to join the EU.

After spending the night in Paris where he had dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he and Macron boarded Macron's plane for the short flight to Brussels.

Josep Borrell, who chairs EU summits, told reporters the EU's 27 national leaders would promise more military support for Ukraine.

While Zelenskiy is not likely to walk away with specific pledges that satisfy his request for warplanes and long range missiles, the visit gives him a chance to make his case in person.

Ukraine submitted its application to join the EU days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year, and now wants formal membership talks to start within months. Brussels has welcomed the bid but says the process is likely to take years.

Zelenskiy's European trip is his second known time out of his country since the war began, following a surprise visit to Washington in December. He has been feted as a war-time hero by Western leaders that have backed Ukraine with weapons.

The tour began on Wednesday in London, where he won a pledge from British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced NATO fighter jets, which Western countries have so far balked at supplying to Kyiv.

Although Britain stopped short of offering actual jets, the promise to train pilots to fly them was a clear step towards lifting that taboo. Sunak instructed his government to look into whether planes were available and said nothing was off the table.

At the meeting in Paris, Macron and Scholz also vowed continued support for Ukraine and heard Zelenskiy's pitch for advanced arms.

"France and Germany have the potential to be game changers and that's how I see our talks today," Zelenskiy said.

"The sooner we get heavy long range weapons and our pilots get modern planes ... the quicker this Russian aggression will end."

Russia's embassy to Britain warned London against sending fighter jets to Ukraine, saying such a move would have ramifications for the entire world, TASS news agency reported.

Kyiv is pushing hard to speed up the start of formal EU membership talks. A Ukrainian official said Kyiv was "absolutely sure the decision to start accession negotiations can be taken this year."

Some EU member states want to give Ukraine the morale boost that would come with opening the talks, but others are cautious, stressing that would-be members have high hurdles to meet, such as cracking down on corruption, before talks can begin.

Whatever the time-frame, the leaders are still likely to stress their support for Kyiv's eventual membership.

"I am taking a clear message to Brussels: Ukraine belongs to the European family," Germany's Scholz said in Paris.

New sanctions against Russia are also likely to be discussed in Brussels. Scholz said on Wednesday in Berlin that the EU will tighten sanctions against Moscow again near the war's anniversary.

On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces are trying to take full control of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Ukrainian military command said in its morning report on Thursday.

It said that over past 24 hours, Russian troops maintained offensives in the regions of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Novopavlivka and Vuhledar.

After major Ukrainian gains on the ground in the second half of 2022, Russia has recovered momentum, sending tens of thousands of freshly mobilised troops to the front. They have made incremental progress in winter battles which both sides describe as some of the bloodiest fighting of the war.

Kyiv says it expects Moscow to broaden that offensive with a big push as the February 24 anniversary of the invasion approaches.

Russia launched its "special military operation" last year to combat what it describes as a security threat from Ukraine's ties to the West, and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian provinces. Ukraine and the West say Russia's invasion is an unprovoked land grab.

© RAW 2023