Britain, EU agree on divorce bill, Northern Ireland, citizens' rights: joint report

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain and the European Union have agreed on the three key divorce issues of a financial settlement, citizens' rights and how to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Britain leaves the EU, a joint report said. The report did not specify a sum that Britain would owe the EU as a result of its exit from the bloc in 2019, but said: "Both Parties have agreed a methodology for the financial settlement." On Northern Ireland, the report said that unless otherwise agreed, Britain would keep laws in Northern Ireland aligned with those of the European Union's internal market and customs union to avoid the need for a border. "In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement," the report said. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)