'It's long overdue' - Biden apologises over Indian boarding schools

US President Joe Biden has formally apologised to Native Americans for a 150-year-old Indian boarding school policy, becoming the first president to do so.

From 1819 until the 1970s, indigenous children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to federal Indian boarding schools. The schools stripped them of their heritage and tried to assimilate Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiian children into white American culture.

Speaking while visiting the tribally controlled Gila Crossing Community School outside of Phoenix, Mr Biden called the program a "sin on our soul" and a "blot on American history".

The Biden administration says it has provided billions of dollars to support indigenous Americans, though communities affected say more could be done.

• Biden apologises for Indian boarding schools 'blot on history'