OTHER NEWS - Dec. 1, 1995

Lazard Freres, beset by fines, scandals and shrinking margins, said it will cease underwriting and trading municipal bonds. . . . SoftKey International Inc. bought Compton’s New Media Inc. for $106.5 million and obtained a pledge of support from Compton’s current owner, Tribune Co., for $150 million in financial assistance if it succeeds in its hostile takeover bid for Learning Co.

Mexican financial authorities said they would take over the running of the country’s fourth-largest bank, Inverlat, in what would be the largest intervention to date in Mexico’s crisis-torn banking sector. . . . Time Warner Inc., continuing its efforts to streamline operations, is folding its Time Warner Telecommunications unit into Time Warner Cable. The unit, previously part of Time Warner Entertainment, oversaw the company’s wireless, cellular, paging and data businesses. . . . Walt Disney Co. said it will open a Canadian animation unit to produce direct-to-home video programs for its television animation unit.

Australia’s Broken Hill Proprietary Co. said it agreed to buy Magma Copper Co., one of the largest U.S. copper producers, for a total of $2.4 billion including debt. . . . The United States and the European Union reached agreement on tariff reductions due on American products, averting threatened U.S. trade sanctions against the 15-nation trading bloc. . . . Colgate-Palmolive said it is assigning all of its media billings, worth well over $500 million, to Young & Rubicam, in a major realignment.