BEIJING (Reuters) - ** China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan, in the country’s northern province of Hebei, on Thursday issued an orange alert for pollution due to deteriorating weather conditions, according to a local government notice

** Orange alerts, the second-highest after red in Hebei’s three-tier pollution warning system, require companies to take action to cut emissions and in some cases restrict output, although the province has a “positive list” exempting thousands of firms from production cuts

** The alert is in place from 8 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Thursday, according to the notice on the Tangshan government website, which said the lifting of the restrictions would be announced separately