OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada gained a modest 12,500 new jobs in April and the unemployment rate held steady at 7.2 percent, Statistics Canada reported on Friday, the latest sign the economy is on track for only tepid growth in the second quarter.

The increase in hiring, slightly lower than forecast, meant Canada recovered just some of the 54,500 jobs estimated to have been lost in March, making it unlikely the central bank will act anytime soon on its threat to eventually raise interest rates.

"This is pretty consistent with an economy that has been growing below potential, and we're not looking for any move from the Bank of Canada until the second half of 2014, so this wouldn't change any of that," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Robert Kavcic.

The median forecast in a Reuters survey of economists was for 15,000 new jobs in April and a 7.2 percent jobless rate. The unemployment rate had risen to that level in March from 7.0 percent in February.

The data is fairly volatile as March's big job loss followed a gain of 50,700 positions in February. The employment statistics are based on a sample survey of representative households and are considered accurate only to within plus or minus 57,400, 19 times out of 20.

"It was a very choppy report, but basically in line with consensus. Nothing that really stands out to really drive policy one way or another," TD Securities chief Canada macro strategist David Tulk said.

The Canadian dollar fell to a near two-week low of C$1.0152, or 98.50 U.S. cents, in the wake of the report, well off its Thursday North American session close at C$1.0075, or 99.26 U.S. cents.

While 36,000 full-time jobs were added during the month, a gain of 34,200 employees in the public sector was offset by a private sector loss of 20,000.

The manufacturing sector added the highest number of jobs since May 2012, winning back an estimated 20,600 of the 24,200 jobs lost in March, but it was still 51,800 below a year earlier.

Sectors showing losses included transportation and warehousing; trade; and business, building and other support services.

Among the provinces, the unemployment rate ranged from lows in those enjoying a resource boom, including 4.0 percent in Saskatchewan and 4.4 percent in Alberta, to 12.4 percent in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has traditionally had one of the country's highest jobless rates.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins, Euan Rocha and Solarina Ho in Toronto; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio, Jeffrey Hodgson and Peter Galloway)

LONDON (Reuters) - Big countries' weakening resolve to cut debt is a mistake, and surplus capital coursing through the world economy risks inflating asset bubbles and causing fresh turmoil, Canada's finance minister said on Thursday. Jim Flaherty, in Britain to attend a two-day meeting of G7 finance ministers, told Reuters that although it was possible to reduce national debt and foster growth, it was the former which was indispensable.

Left wing set to win in Canada's BC, may reshape energy policy

VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - The left-leaning New Democrats are set to reshape energy policy in Canada's Pacific province of British Columbia if, as expected, they seize power from the Liberals in Tuesday's elections to the provincial legislature. Opinion polls put the NDP between 7 and 10 percentage points ahead of the Liberals, well down from the 20-point lead the party had before the campaign started.

Canada says it may take EU to WTO over oil sands dispute

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Canada threatened on Wednesday to take the European Union to the World Trade Organization over its plans to label Canadian oil sands as dirty, but promised not to delay a bilateral trade pact. The issue has overshadowed relations as Canada and the EU try to deepen economic ties through a trade deal that could generate $28 billion a year in new business and commerce.

Quebec lays out plans to raise mining taxes

(Reuters) - The Quebec government has laid out plans to extract up to C$1.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) more in taxes from the mining sector over the next 12 years, with measures that include a minimum royalty, arguing that Quebecers need to see greater benefits from mining ventures in the province. The new taxation plan, less punishing than a scheme the separatist Parti Quebecois had promised in its 2012 election campaign, came as sagging demand and falling metal prices cut into already tight margins in the mining sector.

U.S. charges man in Canadian train attack case with visa violations

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Thursday announced visa fraud charges against a Tunisian man who prosecutors said had met with a key figure in an alleged plot to blow up a railroad line in Canada that carries Amtrak trains between Toronto and New York. In a letter filed in federal court in New York, prosecutors said the man, Ahmed Abassi, 26, who had lived in Canada, was recorded by a U.S. undercover agent discussing various "proposed terrorist plots" with Chiheb Esseghaier, another Tunisian suspect. Esseghaier is now being held by Canadian authorities.

One in five Canadians are born abroad, survey shows

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is more than ever a nation of immigrants, with one in five Canadians born outside the country, according to a 2011 survey released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday. That 20.6 percent proportion of people born abroad, up from 19.8 percent five years previously, is far bigger than in most other rich industrialized countries.

Thirty horses on way to slaughter die in New York trailer fire

(Reuters) - Thirty horses being taken to slaughter in Canada were burned alive when the tractor-trailer transporting them caught fire on an upstate New York highway, state police said on Tuesday. The horses were on their way to a rendering plant in Quebec on Monday evening when the incident occurred on Interstate 81 near the town of Lisle, about 55 miles south of Syracuse, police said.

Canada loses WTO appeal in renewable energy case

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Canada lost an appeal at the World Trade Organization on Monday in a ruling on incentives offered to local companies, a case that has already led to legal challenges over suspicions of similar perks elsewhere. Japan and the European Union brought the case over a scheme intended to promote renewable energy in the province of Ontario.

Canadian minister takes fight for oil sands crude to Europe

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A European Union plan to label crude from the Alberta oil sands as dirty is unfair and could damage Canada's bid to find new export markets, the Canadian resources minister said at the start of a mission to lobby against the idea. As part of a plan to cut greenhouse gases from transport fuel, the EU's executive commission has developed a Fuel Quality Directive that would single out oil from Alberta's tar sands as more polluting than conventional crude.

Ontario unveils budget, opposition support not clear

TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's minority Liberal government unveiled a budget on Thursday that projected a narrower-than-expected 2013-14 deficit and included measures aimed at securing opposition support and preventing an early election for Premier Kathleen Wynne. However, it was not clear whether the budget will receive enough support to keep the Liberals in power, as opposition New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath said she would consult with voters before deciding what to.

On the other hand, my withdrawal was totally unplanned, very unwelcome and ultimately eye-opening. Here is what I learned over the course of the experience.

9:00 AM: I work at home, and our access failed right around the time I get down to business. The usual modem restarts werent helping, and I suspected the modem needed to be replaced. I called Comcast, and went through the expected rigmarole (more modem restarts, power cycling, etc.). I phone-treed my way to a human rep, who told me the earliest service visit I could get would be Friday afternoon.

I panicked. She said she could put me in the running for an earlier appointment if someone else cancelled, and Id hear from a local dispatcher of some sort around noon.

As is routine these days, the call included a request to evaluate my customer service experience: Assuming the rep had done her job properly, it was suggested I might rate her outstanding. Why are businesses so obsessed with rating the performance of phone reps who have no power whatsoever? Sure, the rep did an outstanding job of informing me that I was screwed. Why no opportunity to rate Comcasts service infrascture? Press 4 if you think Comcast should hire more field technicians. Thats something Id weigh in on!

11 AM: To Comcasts credit, its been a few years since we had a real outage like this, and I was shocked to realize how much more dependent on Internet access Ive become. I could keep up with email and some Web stuff through a smartphone, but that wasnt adequate for more substantial research tasks. And it wasnt just work: Our evenings are all about Pandora and streaming Netflix these days.

I was getting depressed about being cut off, and then getting depressed about being depressed about being cut off. What the hell has happened to me?

Internet went out at 9 am, @ says earliest service appt Friday afternoon. Seriously?

12:28 PM: No call from the local dispatcher, butme an email address I could send details 2 so someone would look into this 4 u. I thumb-typed a short email, and went back to waiting.

@ plz email ur act# & phone# & details 2 comcastcares_support@comcast.com & we will look into this 4 u

3:30 PM: Cranky and listless and having done all the phone work and other non-Internet tasks on my agenda, I headed to the nearest Wi-Fi-friendly caf. I caught up on more substantial email and other Web-heavy tasks. With no call from the dispatcher and no reply to that Comcast address Id been given, I sent a more detailed and, lets just say colorful follow-up email. By now I was in full-on theatrical outrage mode, ranting about how the local utilities and even the phone company wouldnt leave me without service for three days. Within an hour a loudmouth college student at the next table had become intolerable, so I trudged home.

But just then: The phone rang. Comcast! Its some sort of regional manager, apologetic and human, offering me his cell-phone number. Within a half-hour, a service tech arrived and replaced the modem. As is so often the case, the front-liners like this manager and tech were great. Why does it always seem like the system is designed to make accessing them so difficult?

8 PM: As we fired up Netflix, I came to two principle conclusions about my brief exile. First, it appeared that complaining through social media really is a reasonable tactic for end-running a service bureaucracy.

Like a once-quiet neighborhood cut up by an expressway and laced with off ramps, northeastern forests are changing because of the pipelines crisscrossing them amid the region's gas drilling boom, experts say.

Environmentalists have loudly worried that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, may threaten water and air, though the Obama administration and many state regulators say the practice is safe when done properly.

Threats to wildlife have flown largely under the radar. But as studies detail plans for thousands of miles of new pipelines and related infrastructure, the dangers to biologically rich forests that have rebounded since vast clear-cutting in the 1800s are taking on new urgency.

"If you wanted to create a perfect storm for biological invasion, you would do what the energy companies are doing in north-central Pennsylvania," said Kevin Heatley, an ecologist with the national firm Biohabitats who works to restore areas that have been damaged by human activity. "You can only put so many bloody parking lots in the woods."

Energy companies, which say they are being responsible stewards of the land, have rushed to unlock the natural gas lying in the shale beneath Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The gas has lowered energy costs, allowed the U.S. to lessen reliance on foreign energy and provided private landowners who sit atop well sites with a gold mine in royalties. New York, which also has large reserves, is trying to decide whether to allow fracking.

To get the gas to market, hundreds of miles of pipeline are being laid along clear-cut forest "tunnels" sometimes dozens of yards wide.

The new energy development is "almost a spider web coming down to the forest," said Nels Johnson, of the Pennsylvania chapter of The Nature Conservancy, which estimates the state could see thousands of miles of new pipelines over the next two decades.

Even northeastern states that have put a hold on fracking aren't immune, because many import natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration found that 245 miles of new pipelines were laid in the Northeast last year, and that figure is projected to grow.

Wind turbine development poses similar threats, too. The Nature Conservancy says Pennsylvania already has more than 600 of the giant blades, with the potential for thousands more in coming decades.

The total acreage taken up by the pipelines, wind projects and related development isn't that large, but the open spaces they create allow predators and invasive species to permeate a canopy of trees that once kept them at bay.

It's not hypothetical, scientists say. Studies and observations have documented invasions. And just as with humans, the uninvited guests change the neighborhood.

Forest fragmentation opens the door to invasive species such as the cowbird, a type of blackbird that normally prefers open land, said Bridget Stutchbury, a biologist at York University in Toronto who studies forest songbirds.

"The female cowbird sneaks around the forest, laying her egg in other species' nests," Stutchbury said. Forest birds such as thrushes and warblers don't realize the egg isn't theirs and expend energy raising chicks from another species in what she called a "nifty strategy for child-rearing."

The droppings that cowbirds and other invaders leave behind can also contain seeds from invasive plants that will sprout, spread and ultimately change the soil so much that some forest salamanders and wildflowers can't survive, experts note.

A report by the U.S. Geological Survey, released last week, found that in Pennsylvania's Susquehanna County, at the heart of the drilling boom, the number of patches or sections of forest increased by about 156 between 2001 and 2010, with Marcellus Shale drilling and related pipelines responsible for most of the change.

The energy industry said that it welcomes original research, but that it should be seen in context.

The Geological Survey report, said Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, found that oil and gas activity affected less than 1 percent of the forest area in Allegheny and Susquehanna counties.

That number may seem small, but experts say it's a cause for concern, nonetheless.

"As an ecologist, you can look at that and say, wow, there are going to be changes," said Terry Slonecker, the researcher who authored the USGS report, noting it's too early to know where fragmentation has gone too far.

There is concern even at the numbers the USGS found, Stutchbury said, noting that without serious reforestation efforts, "we can anticipate really big impacts not just on birds, but all these forest critters."

Creighton, of the drilling coalition, said companies are sensitive to the issue.

"Well sites and pipeline right of ways are temporary construction projects on mostly private land that will be reclaimed after work is complete," he said.

The company KinderMorgan is building a gas pipeline extension in northeastern Pennsylvania that has attracted protests from environmental groups. Spokesman Richard Wheatley said that the company follows the guidance of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for all interstate pipeline projects and that other state and federal agencies can be involved, too.

"Once a project is placed in service, companies follow up with additional environmental and safety monitoring/inspection and remediation," Wheatley said in an email.

Heatley, the ecologist, said that "not one" of the energy companies drilling in the area has a long-term restoration plan for sensitive deep-forest environments, and that permits usually require only minimal restoration, such as planting grasses.

Still, the reality is that modern life demands resources and energy, and even the alternatives such as wind turbines can threaten forests, too.

The Nature Conservancy is examining potential effects from gas drilling and wind turbines on an eight-state region from New York to Tennessee. That report is due out later this year. The group notes that old and new energy sources have both promise and risk.

Careful planning and reforestation efforts could reduce the effects of pipelines, wind turbines and other human activity, scientists said. For example, multiple pipelines could go on one right of way, or wind turbines might go on land already barren because of old coal mining.

Planting native shrubs in the pipeline pathways, which need to remain treeless to avoid root damage to pipes and to give maintenance crews access, would be better than just grass, the Nature Conservancy noted.

Why should anyone care, Heatley asked, whether forest creatures get replaced by invasive plants and animals that can better tolerate human activity?

To see crows, opossums and squirrels, "you can go anywhere," he said, and in the Northeast it's easy to find trees, but large blocks of deep forest are rare. "It's a unique asset."

"Every little bit makes a difference" and the intensity doesn't matter just getting a minimum amount of exercise does, said Dr. Mathew Sorensen of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

He led the study, which was to be discussed Friday at an American Urological Association conference in San Diego.

About 9 percent of people will get a kidney stone sometime in their life. The problem is a little more common in men, but incidence has risen 70 percent over the last 15 years, most rapidly among women.

Obesity raises the risk as do calcium supplements, which many women take after menopause. A government task force recently advised against supplements for healthy older women, saying that relatively low-dose calcium pills don't do much to keep bones strong but make kidney stones more likely.

The new research involved nearly 85,000 women 50 and older in the government-funded Women's Health Initiative study. All had an exam to measure weight and height so doctors could figure out their body mass index, a gauge of obesity. They also filled out annual surveys on what they ate, so researchers could take into account things known to lower the risk of kidney stones, such as drinking a lot of fluids and eating less salt or meat.

Participants said how much exercise they usually got and that was translated into "METs" a measure of how much effort an activity takes. For example, 10 METs per week is about 2 1/2 hours of walking at a moderate pace, four hours of light gardening or one hour of jogging.

After about eight years, 3 percent of the women had developed a kidney stone. Compared to women who got no leisure-time exercise, those who got up to 5 METs per week had a 16 percent lower risk for stones. The risk was 22 percent lower with 5 to 10 METs per week and 31 percent lower for 10 METs or more. Exercise beyond 10 METs added no additional benefit for kidney stone prevention. Exercise intensity didn't matter just how much women got each week.

"We're not asking people to run marathons. This is just a very mild to moderate additional amount of activity," Sorensen said.

Why might exercise help? It changes the way the body handles nutrients and fluids that affect stone formation. Exercisers sweat out salt and tend to retain calcium in their bones, rather than having these go into the kidneys and urine where stones form. They also tend to drink water and fluids afterwards, another plus for preventing stones.

"There's something about exercise itself that probably produces things in your urine that prevent stone formation," said one expert not involved in the work, Dr. Kevin McVary. He is chairman of urology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill., and a spokesman for the urology group. "It's not just being skinny or not being fat, it's something about the exercise that protects you."

Exercise is known to cut the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions that raise the risk of kidney stones. Next, researchers want to study men and younger women to see if exercise helps prevent kidney stones in them, too .

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" will have a new face at the anchor desk starting Monday, June 10 at 11/10c. Correspondent John Oliver will take over for Jon Stewart through September 3.

"Don't worry, it's still going to be everything that you love about The Daily Show,' just without the thing that you love the most about it," joked Oliver in a statement.

The cable channel also released Oliver's guest list for his first week: Seth Rogen (June 10), Armando Iannucci (June 11), a musical performance by Mavis Staples (June 12) and Fareed Zakaria (June 13).

Oliver joined "The Daily Show" in 2006. He also performs standup and writes and stars in a weekly podcast, "The Bugle: Audio Newspaper for a Visual World."

Stewart previously announced in March that he would take a summer break to direct his first film, "Rosewater." Based on Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy's 2011 book, "And Then They Came For Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival," Stewart is also writing the screenplay.

Gloversville police told local media outlets two Sno Cone Joe operators face harassment and stalking charges after heated confrontations last month that included one of them yelling "This is my town!" at a Mr. Ding-A-Ling driver.

The driver told police that Sno Cone Joe owners Joshua Malatino and Amanda Scott followed his truck, playing their music at high volume and trying to lure away customers with promises of free ice cream.

Police said Malatino also called the suburban Albany headquarters of Mr. Ding-A-Ling and said "I own this town!" while claiming Sno Cone Joe controls the frozen treats market in Gloversville, a former manufacturing city about 35 miles northwest of Albany.

Capt. John Sira said Malatino was warned this spring about similar behavior last year and police stepped in after an officer saw some of the activity while on patrol.

Malatino, 34, and Scott, 21, both of Gloversville, were charged Tuesday with second-degree harassment, a violation, and fourth-degree stalking, a misdemeanor. A message left for their lawyer wasn't initially returned Wednesday afternoon.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Air Canadareported a 3 percent decline in first-quarter revenue on Friday, due in part to a drop in premium travel demand and competitive pricing, and its shares fell nearly 5 percent.

Confirming preliminary results reported earlier, Canada's largest airline also posted a smaller loss for the period. Yield, a measure of the average fare paid per mile, fell 1.1 percent from a year earlier.

The company attributed much of the decline to less business travel compared with leisure travel, weather-related flight cancellations and delays, higher industry capacity and competitive pricing in some markets.

"A tough quarter could be a first sign of weaker demand," Royal Bank of Canada analyst Walter Spracklin said in a research note.

BMO Nesbitt Burns analyst Fadi Chamoun said pricing in the first quarter was "disappointing," but seemed to stem from several unusual factors.

The Montreal-based airline said demand improved in the second quarter for both economy and business classes. It expected capacity as measured by available seat miles to increase 2 percent to 3 percent this quarter.

"The progress we're making on our core priorities is getting us closer to our goal of sustained profitability," Chief Executive Officer Calin Rovinescu said on a conference call.

Air Canada said it expected costs per available seat mile, excluding fuel expense and unusual items, to range between a fall of 0.5 percent to a rise of 0.5 percent in the second quarter. The company revised this measure of unit cost to decrease more for the full year, to the range of 0.5 to 1.5 percent.

Air Canada had announced preliminary results on April 22 as part of an effort to acquire a new type of debt certificate that was previously unavailable to Canadian airlines to finance new aircraft acquisitions.

The company said its first-quarter loss had narrowed to C$260 million, or 95 Canadian cents a share, from C$274 million, or 99 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.

Operating revenue fell to C$2.95 billion from C$2.96 billion.

Shares of Air Canada were down 4.9 percent at C$2.74 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Fatigued by years of austerity and swayed by promises of debt relief, Icelandic voters dumped the Social Democrats from power on Saturday, returning a center-right government that ruled over its stunning financial collapse just five years ago.

Once a European financial hub, this windswept north Atlantic island of glaciers, geysers and volcanoes has been limping along for years, still crippled from a crash that brought it to its knees in just a matter of days.

"We are offering a different road, a road to growth, protecting social security, better welfare and job creation," Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson, the favorite to become the next prime minister after his party took first place in the vote, told Reuters as the results were coming in.

"What we won't compromise about is cutting taxes and lifting the living standards of people," said Benediktsson, 43, a former professional soccer player.

The victory caps a remarkable comeback for Benediktsson.

Just two weeks ago he considered resigning after record low poll ratings prompted calls for him to hand over his party's leadership to his deputy.

Hailing from a wealthy family with extensive business interests, Benediktsson, an avid trout and salmon fisher, was considered out of touch and tainted by the financial collapse.

Instead of stepping aside, he fought back with a rare personal television interview, giving voters a glimpse of his human side and propping up his party's ratings.

His Independence party took 26.5 percent of the vote, giving it 19 seats in the 63-seat parliament. The Progressive Party collected 22 percent, winning 18 seats, while the ruling Social Democrats got 13.5 percent and 9 seats, according to results with over two-thirds of the vote counted.

Benediktsson's first task will be to form a coalition, although a tie-up with Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party, an ally in several governments over the past three decades, is a widely expected outcome.

In a country where Nordic civility prevails, the president walks without security and members of parliament are listed in the phone book, coalitions are usually formed in just days.

"Historically two-party coalitions are the strongest and ... if you look at the (results board) the choice seems to be clear," Benediktsson said. "We'll go into coalition with whoever we can govern with."

The Independence Party has been part of every government between 1980 and 2009, presiding over the privatization of the banks, the financial sector's liberalization and its eventual demise.

Campaigning on a platform of tax cuts, it promised relief to households whose inflation-indexed mortgages have kept growing, despite several write-offs since the crash.

It also argued that foreign creditors of its failed banks, now locked into the country because of capital controls, will have to accept a massive write-off, perhaps as much as 75 percent, before they would be let out.

The write-off and the refinancing of other corporate debt, for example to Landsbanki and Reykjavik Energy, could let Iceland ease capital controls within 12 to 18 months, Benediktsson predicted.

Still, Gunnlaugsson was not yet ready to concede the premiership: "Sometimes the biggest party delegates the prime minister, sometimes not. We've seen all sort of governments."

DEMISE

The vote was also a de facto rejection of EU membership as staunchly independent-minded voters rejected the Social Democrats' argument that joining the block was the only way for long-term security.

With a population of just 320,000, Iceland became a European financial center 10 years ago when its liberalized banks borrowed heavily on ultra cheap overseas markets and lured British and Dutch savers with high returns.

Amassing assets worth more than ten times Iceland's GDP, Landsbanki, Kaupthing and Glitnir collapsed in quick succession, dragging the entire country into a financial abyss in October 2008.

The shiny Land Rovers that some Icelanders purchased, jokingly renamed 'Game Over,' were collected and taken offshore by enterprising Europeans, property prices tumbled, unemployment soared and the currency was only saved by capital controls that locked in foreign investors indefinitely.

The Social Democrats stabilized the economy with a bailout package hailed as exemplary by the IMF, but a series of policy blunders, tax hikes, leniency toward foreign creditors and their inability to deal with soaring household debt cost them popularity.

Leaden skies and driving sleet were a fair reflection of the mood of voters who have seen promises of a quick recovery fade, while mortgage debts rise, prices soar and capital controls keep investment at a record low. Turnout of 83.3 percent was the lowest since Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944.

"People seem to have a very short memory," Halldor Gudmundsson, 44, said after casting his ballot on Reykjavik's outskirts. "These are the parties that got us into the mess in the first place."

Like many voters, he has little faith in the ability of politicians to make a difference.

A recent Gallup poll showed that only 15 percent trust parliament, making it the second least-trusted institution after banks.

"There's so little room to maneuver and they promised so much, their popularity will be gone in three months," said Egill Helgason, a political commentator for the Icelandic national broadcaster RUV.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Paul Simao)

Zimmermann was terrific in his first career shutout and the Nationals limited the Cincinnati Reds to one hit for the second straight game in a 1-0 victory on Friday night.

Zimmermann (4-1) struck out four and walked one while improving to 3-0 with a 1.36 ERA in five career games against Cincinnati. The right-hander needed only 91 pitches to record his second complete game of the season and No. 3 for his career.

Washington won Thursday night when Gonzalez pitched eight crisp innings in an 8-1 victory. Joey Votto homered for Cincinnati's only hit in the series opener.

"They were swinging early just like tonight," Zimmermann said. "I just saw that, and I figured if I did the same, I'd get the same results."

It was the first time the Reds managed just one hit in consecutive games since July 5-6, 1900, against Brooklyn, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau that the team provided. The Houston Astros from Sept. 14-15, 2008, were the previous major league team with such a streak.

"My guys, if they attack hitters like the last two days, it's going to be a problem," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "I don't care, good-hitting team, bad-hitting team."

Xavier Paul led off the third with a single to center for Cincinnati's only hit off Zimmermann. The other baserunners came when Todd Frazier reached on an error by first baseman Adam LaRoche in the fifth and Corky Miller walked in the eighth.

"We had quite a few pitches to hit," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We just didn't find any holes. We've just got to keep swinging. We didn't do a bunch of striking out, we put the ball in play. He was good tonight, but we didn't find any holes."

Johnson said Zimmermann earned the right to finish the game.

"Low pitch count, really went after them," Johnson said. "Never had any qualms at all about letting him (finish)."

Zimmermann admitted that he glanced at the scoreboard to see how many pitches he had thrown. He noticed he was at 60 after six, so he thought he could go on.

"I don't care about strikeouts. I don't want to walk anyone," Zimmermann said.

Homer Bailey (1-2) was nearly as good as Zimmermann, pitching seven crisp innings for the Reds. He allowed one run and six hits, struck out six and walked none.

The Nationals' only run came in the third. Bryce Harper tripled to right and scored on Jayson Werth's single to right.

Harper was able to enjoy two excellent pitching performances.

"It was incredible. That's what we expect from our pitchers. We're used to that," Harper said.

Zimmermann improved to 8-0 with a 3.02 ERA in his last 14 regular-season home starts.

The Reds have scored just four runs in the last four games.

"Things go in streaks and sometimes there's no explaining why," Baker said. "We went through this last year. There was a streak when you couldn't buy a run and another streak when you get all the runs you need or want, or even more than you want. Right now we're in that can't buy a run phase."

NOTES: The Reds placed LHP Manny Parra on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left pectoral muscle and activated LHP Sean Marshall from the DL. ... LaRoche was hitless in three at-bats. He's mired in an 0-for-19 slump. ... Baker said RHP Johnny Cueto, on the disabled list with a pulled muscle in his back, is not close to returning. ... Johnson said he hopes 3B Ryan Zimmerman, on the DL with a hamstring strain, will soon be able to go on a rehab assignment. He could be reactivated next weekend. Rookie Anthony Rendon, who was called up to play third while Zimmerman was out, was on the bench for the second straight games. He's just 2 for 15. ... Cincinnati OF Shin-Soo Choo did not reach base for the first time this season after reaching safely in his first 22 games with the Reds.