Dhaka, March 25 -- Hundreds of staff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation began a one-day strike on Wednesday, the first walkout in 20 years, over pay and working conditions, disrupting live news coverage at the public broadcaster.

Live programming was diverted to content from the UK broadcaster BBC when the strike began at 11am (0000 GMT).

Flagship programmes on TV and radio were also expected to be replaced by reruns during the 24-hour strike.

It comes after months of pay negotiations between staff and management. The majority of ABC staff this week rejected the latest offer of a 10 percent pay rise over three years and a A$1,000 ($700) bonus for ongoing and fixed-term staff.

One-third of the ABC's 4,500 staff are unionised. A...