Also ...

British Aerospace said at the Paris air show it was joining U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp.’s bid for the Joint Strike Fighter program, the next-generation U.S. fighter plane. The decision ends months of speculation as to whether it would team up with Lockheed or rival Boeing Co. to bid to build up to 3,000 multirole fighters for the Pentagon. The Air Force currently flies different aircraft than the Navy and Marine Corps. . . . German sports car maker Porsche said it will create a joint venture with Harley-Davidson Inc. to assemble motors and other parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Each company will invest $10 million in the venture, which will be based at Harley’s factories in the U.S. . . . Duke Power Co. completed its planned purchase of PanEnergy Corp. for about $9.8 billion in stock and assumed debt, adding one of the largest U.S. natural gas companies to one of the largest electric utilities. . . . Mexico’s official unemployment rate slipped to 3.9% last month to its lowest level in more than two years, the government said, down from 4.29% in April and from 5.4% in May 1996.