Norway said it halted a civil servants’ strike.

The country’s Socialist government told all parties involved in a public sector labor conflict that has been threatening the country’s oil and gas production that it is resorting to forced arbitration to end the strikes. All striking public sector workers were ordered back to their jobs. The government intervened after a possible escalation of the strikes this weekend had threatened to paralyze Norway’s offshore production and other key sectors of the economy, including power supply and public communications.