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Asking Eric: Can I tell the server that her little game isn’t amusing?Hyderabad : The SR police arrested two persons and seized 3 kg of ganja intended for sale from their possession in Hyderabad. Six consumers who came to buy from the arrested peddlers were also apprehended. The arrested peddlers have been identified as Arapati Hari Krishna, 24, a native of Prakasham district in Andhra Pradesh, and Jaba Naveen, 26, a resident of SR Nagar, Hyderabad and a native of Andhra Pradesh According to the police, Hari Krishna, who came to Hyderabad in September seeking work, hatched a plan with his friend Naveen to buy and sell ganja to make money. The duo travelled and purchased 3.5 kg of ganja from Tuni in Andhra Pradesh through Hari Krishna’s contact named Ashok. After getting the contraband, they brought ganja and sold it in smaller packets to consumers in SR Nagar. Acting on a tip off, police raided their residence and apprehended the duo.NoneNFL continues ratings domination with big Saturday showing, CFP first round delivers strong numbers

Cruise cars used to be a common sight on the streets of San Francisco. This one took me for a ride, ... [+] but Cruise robotaxis will be no more. The self-driving world was shocked by the not entirely shocking news that General Motors will shut down the robotaxi project of Cruise , absorbing some of the Cruise team to work on in-car technologies like the previously unrelated SuperCruise driver assist system. Cruise had been the clear #2 robotaxi project (at least outside China) until it suspended operations in 2023 after losing its California permits due to a severe incident and cover-up, and GM had spent and was continuing to spend many billions on it. The death of Cruise raises a number of important issues. One is the fate of the project and team, beyond being shrunk and absorbed. It is interesting to note that GM has a (mostly) working robotaxi system but has lost faith in the business case. Tesla has a robocar business (hundreds of thousands of customers have pre-ordered a self-driving system at up to $15,000 and are still waiting for it) but does not have a working self-drive technology. While Tesla fans and Elon Musk have for 8 years believed it was just a year away, and while it has been showing good improvement, it is still quite far from production “bet your life” quality. Tesla’s safety level is around where Waymo was over 8 years ago, and perhaps where Cruise was 6 years ago — though there are those who, with justification, doubt the numbers Cruise claimed. Of course, the Cruise system uses a much more expensive and sophisticated sensor suite, focused on LIDAR, a sensor that Elon Musk has called a “crutch.” For reasons of ego, if nothing else, Tesla would strongly resist such a switch. On the other hand, in the event (which some view as likely, and others do not) that Tesla’s end-to-end ML approach reaches an “AI plateau” and can’t be made to truly self-drive with just cameras, or any time soon, it would be the rational thing to eat a lot of crow and cost and switch over to the approach that Cruise (and Waymo, and Zoox, and Baidu and all the other companies who have working robocars) are using. The sensors are dropping in price (as all electronics do in volume) and could easily be paid for out already collected funds, at least from those who paid fees like $15K, $12K or even less for the pre-order of FSD. (I’m one of them, though I only paid $2K and they would lose money on the few of us in that group.) In addition, Cruise is several years ahead on understanding and setting up all the many logistics elements needed to run a robotaxi service, which Tesla has said they will do. That experience would save Tesla a lot of time, even if they don’t care much for Cruise’s driving technology. FBI Warns iPhone, Android Users—Change WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Signal Apps What We Know About Luigi Mangione: Alleged UnitedHealthcare Shooter’s Gun Matches Shell Casings From Scene, NYPD Says Facebook And Instagram Down: Here’s What We Know About Widespread Outages This is not going to happen, of course. Tesla is very set on its path. It’s a shame if Cruise’s work just vanishes into the ether. More than a shame, as it leaves the US with one less player. Waymo is going strong, Zoox is just getting ready to go out, and Motional, also owned by a car company, has shown troubling signals. Waymo will be busy for some time in the USA, and in fact with less competition may expand more slowly. Cruise’s competition definitely provided some prompting for Waymo to act in the past (and vice versa.) This may mean that the Chinese companies will be able to expand into the world with less competition and establish themselves in some countries before other companies get there. It also means it will take longer for prices to come down in the USA, and longer for many other things which get driven by competition. The Cruise Origin was shelved several months ago, and now will never return. This version gave ... [+] special access to the disabled. As noted, this action by GM was not too shocking. I have never felt that traditional car OEMs would lead the way in robocars, but Cruise began as a startup. After the infamous dragging incident of October 2023, the founders were fired, and corporate management stepped in. Even before that, the prior CEO of Cruise was fired over conflict of how much it should be a startup and how much a part of the whole. Role of the DMV After the dragging incident, the California DMV pulled Cruise from the streets. They cited safety issues (such as the dragging) but most feel the primary reason they cited was concern over their short-lived attempt to cover-up the incident, though they never expressed which was more important. There’s a strong argument that this DMV action played a significant role in the death of Cruise, though with no agreement over whether the DMV’s reaction was at the right strength. It’s possible that Cruise would have had another incident before too long without the DMV, though Cruise published numbers claiming they were having fewer crashes than the Uber drivers they were replacing with their robotaxi service. There have been two serious robotaxi/pedestrian encounters. The first involved Uber, whose vehicle killed a pedestrian, with fault placed entirely on the negligent safety driver (not) supervising the vehicle and the procedures by which Uber trained and managed that safety driver. Nonetheless, Uber left the roads and eventually “sold” off their self-driving unit to Aurora. (They traded their robotaxi unit (and cash) for Aurora stock, however that stock is currently doing decently.) The second was Cruise. What this means in both cases of a serious crash is the robocar project received the corporate death penalty, resulting in the loss of billions of effort and investment. In the debate over how much regulation is appropriate for self-driving projects, there is a case that extremely strong deterrents are already in place. While it’s hardly a settled question over whether the DMV’s order is solely or even significantly responsible for the end of Cruise, it should be considered. It was not the intention of the DMV to end Cruise, of course. Their mission is to improve road safety. Even if Cruise’s claim of superior safety was false, they were on a path to providing major improvements to road safety over time. There’s a good case that the DMV’s actions have seriously worsened road safety, both because of what Cruise would have done, and because of what extra competition would also have done. When I write “seriously,” I mean very significant numbers. While today’s robocar fleets are tiny, this means any mistakes they make will be small in magnitude. They will be—they must be—significantly safer than the human drivers they replace once they start driving in large volumes. That future Cruise fleet, had it come to be, and been a success, would very probably have prevented literally millions of future crashes. While the DMV has to do its job, this number, and its application to their core mission, should not leave their minds. Fortunately, all is not lost. Some of the technology developed at Cruise will be used to make GM’s regular cars safer, or at least that’s the plan, as it was when Ford shut down Argo. Much will still be lost.President-elect Donald Trump on Monday held a wide-ranging news conference in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida's next senator. Trump held forth for over an hour, the first time he took questions from reporters since winning the election. The event harkens back to his long-winding news conferences from his first term and is a stark contrast from President Joe Biden , who doesn't often take questions from reporters. Here's a look at some of what he touched on: Trump provides some assurances on polio vaccine Trump defended his choice for health secretary, prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , but said he personally is a “big believer” in the polio vaccine and would preserve access to it. “You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine," he said. “That’s not going to happen.” Over the weekend, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, spoke out in defense of the polio vaccine after a recent report disclosed that one of Kennedy's advisers filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022. Kennedy has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Trump seemed to question whether there’s a link, saying “We’re looking to find out,” and remarked on the rising cases of autism being diagnosed. “There’s something wrong, and we’re going to find out about it,” he said. There are no blood or biological tests for autism; instead, a doctor bases the diagnosis on a child’s behavior. While the autism diagnosis has been available for at least 80 years, the definition gradually expanded to include milder cases, which are more common. A study last year found that about a quarter of kids with autism — about 110,000 in the U.S. — have the most severe version of the developmental disability, which has left them unable to speak or with an IQ below 50 or both. Of Kennedy, “He’s going to be much less radical than you would think," he said. "I think he’s got a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.” Trump blames middlemen for high price of pharmaceutical drugs Trump described a dinner he had this month with Kennedy; Dr. Mehmet Oz , a celebrity heart surgeon turned talk show host and lifestyle guru whom he's tapped to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and top pharmaceutical executives in which they discussed drug prices. Trump heaped praise on the companies — the same ones that Kennedy has routinely argued profit off of Americans unfairly — but said the high cost of health care was a focus of their dinner. “What came out of that meeting is that we’re paying far too much,” Trump said. Trump also hit pharmaceutical benefits managers, calling them “horrible middlemen” who drive up the cost of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have been aggressively lobbying Congress to restrict the role of pharmaceutical benefit managers, which help health insurance companies’ biggest clients decide how and what prescription drugs will be covered in their insurance plans. “I don’t know who these middlemen are, but they are rich as hell," Trump said. Trump's appearance is a clear break from Biden's style The press conference was Trump’s most extensive public appearance since his victory six weeks ago — a rare absence from the public stage for the former reality star. But it also underscored how even while president-elect, Trump has seized the spotlight from Biden, who still has a month left on his term in office. Biden has not held a press conference in months and has had a limited public schedule. While Trump was addressing some of the top-of-mind issues of the day -- including sightings of drones flying over the Northeast -- Biden himself has been silent, leaving it to aides to try to calm the public. ‘I don't know' if Lara Trump will be a senator Trump seemed skeptical that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appoint his daughter-in-law to be a Florida senator, taking the seat held by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for secretary of state. Asked whether he expected DeSantis to name Lara Trump to replace Rubio, Trump said, “I probably don’t, but I don’t know.” Trump recently spoke with DeSantis at a memorial for Florida law enforcement officers. Trump's allies have been pushing DeSantis to nominate Lara Trump, who is married to Trump's son, Eric, and served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee this year. “Ron’s doing a good job with his choice," Trump said, without elaborating. He lavished praise on Lara Trump, including for her work at the RNC, where part of her duties involved focusing on “election integrity,” a priority of Trump's after he falsely claimed fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Trump open to intervening in potential TikTok ban Trump indicated he would look at intervening in the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. The popular social media platform must cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January under a federal law. He didn't offer specifics, but Trump credited the platform with helping him win the election. His campaign saw it as a bridge to reach younger, less politically engaged voters, particularly when clips circulated showing him with celebrities at UFC fights. “We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said. “You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok." Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term but changed his mind and pledged to “save” TikTok. Once he takes office, his Justice Department would be tasked with enforcing the new federal law against TikTok. Trump on Monday was meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club, according to two people familiar with the president-elect’s plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about them and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. 'Everybody wants to be my friend,’ he says Trump noted the differences between the first time he was to take office eight years ago and today, saying executives now want to meet with him. He said they were “hostile” back then. “Everybody was fighting me,” he said about his first term. “This term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don’t know. My personality changed or something.” While he left office in 2021 ostracized and angry, Trump has had a stunning turnaround leading to his election win. Last week, he was honored by being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year and ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. His meeting with the TikTok executive was part of a string of meetings he's had with Silicon Valley billionaires and other technology leaders since becoming president-elect. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have all flown to Trump's club to meet with him. He revealed Monday that he had also met with Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will meet with him this week, Trump said. “We have a lot of great executives coming in — the top executives, the top bankers, they’re all calling," he said. "It’s like a complete opposite from the first one.” Trump already returning to world stage With multiple wars going on, Trump has sought to insert himself back on the world stage. He said he is working to get Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza to be released and had a “very good talk” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But on Monday he seemed to buffer expectations about his promise to solve the Russia-Ukraine war even before taking office, describing the conflict as a “tough one” and a “nasty one." “We are trying to get that war stopped, that horrible, horrible war” he said. “It’s a tough one. It’s a nasty one. It’s nasty. People are being killed at levels that nobody’s ever seen.” Russia's invasion of Ukraine is Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides. Trump declined to say whether he's spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since winning the election. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris this month when he visited for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Trump's incoming press secretary has said that Trump invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his Jan. 20 inauguration, but Trump said Monday that Zelenskyy was not among them. “If he'd like to come, I'd like to have him," Trump said. Trump said Xi has not yet said whether he is coming. He described the Chinese leader as “a friend of mine” and “an amazing guy” but acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their relationship. “It was a bridge too far for me,” he said. ___ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Amanda Seitz in Washington and Colleen Long in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.By PETER SMITH A social-media tribute to Coptic Christians. A billboard in Amish country. A visit to a revered Jewish gravesite. While Donald Trump’s lock on the white evangelical vote is legendary, he and his campaign allies also wooed smaller religious groups, far from the mainstream. As it turned out, Trump won by decisive margins, but his campaign aggressively courted niche communities with the understanding that every vote could be critical, particularly in swing states. Voter surveys such as exit polls, which canvass broad swaths of the electorate, aren’t able to gauge the impact of such microtargeting, but some backers say the effort was worth it. Just one week before the election, Trump directed a post on the social-media platform X to Coptic Christians in the United States —- whose church has ancient roots in Egypt. He saluted their “Steadfast Faith in God, Perseverance through Centuries of Persecution and Love for this Great Country.” “This was the first time seeing a major U.S. presidential candidate address the community in this manner,” said Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian and research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute. “It was really a profound moment.” She said many Copts share the conservative social views of other Christian groups in the Republican constituency, and they may already have been Trump supporters. But the posting reinforced those bonds. Coptic bishops sent the president-elect congratulations after his victory and cited their “shared social and family values.” Some Assyrian Christians — another faith group with Middle Eastern roots — similarly bonded with Trump, whose mispronunciation of “Assyrian” at a rally created a viral video moment and drew attention to their support. Sam Darmo, a Phoenix real estate agent and co-founder of Assyrians for Trump, said many community members cited the economy, illegal immigration and other prominent voter issues. They echoed other conservative Christians’ concerns, he said, on issues such as abortion, gender identity and religious expression in public. But he said Trump supported various Middle Eastern Christians recovering from the Islamic State group’s oppressive rule. Darmo also credited Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, for mobilizing various Middle Eastern Christian groups, including Chaldean Catholics, and other voters, particularly in Michigan, such as Muslims. “He brought all these minority groups together,” he said. “We’re hoping to continue that relationship.” But members of Middle Eastern-rooted Christian groups, and their politics, are far from monolithic, said Marcus Zacharia, founder of Progressive Copts, a program of Informed Immigrants, an organization that promotes dialogue on sensitive topics among such groups in the United States and Canada. He said many younger community members question Trump’s stances on issues such as immigration, and sense that conservatives sometimes tokenize them by focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East while neglecting wider issues of repression in countries there that the U.S. supports. He said there needs to be more informed dialogue across the political divide in these communities. “There is no more high time than these next four years to have that way of conducting conversations,” he said. Republicans also made an aggressive push for Amish voters , particularly in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where they are most numerous at about 92,000 (many below voting age). The GOP has made similar efforts in the past, even though researchers have found that less than 10% of them typically vote, due to their separatism from society. But Republicans used billboards, mailers, ads and door-to-door campaigner to drive turnout in Lancaster County, home base to the nation’s largest Amish settlement. On Election Day, Amish voters Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus said they were supporting Trump, citing their anti-abortion beliefs. “We basically look at it as murder,” Stoltzfus, 31, said outside a polling center in the Lancaster County community of New Holland, where dozens of other members of the local Amish community voted. Trump has wavered on the issue, dismaying some abortion opponents, though many have said Republicans still align more closely to their views. Stolzfus added: “Make America great again and keep the moral values,” he said. “Let’s go back to the roots.” Steven Nolt, a history professor at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster College who studies the Amish and their voting patterns, said that while it’s too early to say definitively without further research, he doesn’t see evidence of a larger turnout this year. Lancaster County as a whole — most of which is not Amish — is a GOP stronghold that Trump won handily, though both parties’ votes edged up from 2020, according to unofficial results posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Trump’s biggest increases were in urban or suburban areas with few Amish, while some areas with larger Amish populations generally saw a modest increase in the Trump vote, said Nolt, director of the college’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. “Bottom line, percentage-wise, not much change in the parts of Lancaster County where the Amish live,” he said. Trump directly reached out to members of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism. Related Articles National Politics | Attorneys want the US Supreme Court to say Mississippi’s felony voting ban is cruel and unusual National Politics | Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct. But can he do the same for his nominees? National Politics | Trump gave Interior nominee one directive for a half-billion acres of US land: ‘Drill.’ National Politics | Trump’s team is delaying transition agreements. What does it mean for security checks and governing? National Politics | Judge delays Trump hush money sentencing in order to decide where case should go now On Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Trump made a symbolically resonant visit to the “Ohel,” the burial site of the movement’s revered late leader, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Wearing a yarmulke, the traditional Jewish skullcap, Trump, who has Jewish family members, brought a written prayer to the Ohel and laid a small stone at the grave in keeping with tradition. The site in New York City, while particularly central to Chabad adherents, draws an array of Jewish and other visitors, including politicians. About two-thirds of Jewish voters overall supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. But the Trump campaign has made a particular outreach to Orthodox Jews, citing issues including his policies toward Israel in his first administration. Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowitz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida said it was moving for him to see images of Trump’s visit. “The mere fact that he made a huge effort, obviously it was important to him,” he said. Associated Press journalist Luis Henao contributed.

Reforms should be implemented through an elected parliament, who, once in power, could swiftly address the economic, social, political and foreign challenges the country is currently facing, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said yesterday. Stressing the need for polls at the earliest, he also said the reports by the reform commissions formed by the interim government should be discussed in parliament. The BNP leader made the remarks while speaking to reporters after a meeting with some other political parties at the party chairperson's Gulshan office. At the meeting, leaders of Gono Odhikar Parishad (Rashed); Gono Forum, Bam Gonotantrik Oikya; Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad; Peoples Party; and National Awami Party (Bhashani) – parties that previously organised joint movements with BNP against the former Awami League government – expressed their dissatisfaction with the interim government's performance so far. They urged the interim government to hold discussions with political parties and announce an election date, adding that reforms should be carried out through an elected parliament after the polls. They also called for initiatives to bridge the gap among the parties. The leaders criticised the formation of a new political party and vowed to continue opposing the government until their demands are met, meeting sources said. Speaking anonymously, one of the leaders at the meeting said the interim government is likely to take time to form a new party, raising concerns for BNP and others. After the meeting, Gono Adhikar Parishad General Secretary Rashed Khan accused the interim government of avoiding the banning of AL by putting the blame on BNP. "Our clear statement is that we'll build a mass resistance against those who rehabilitate the Awami League." He too blamed the government of "wasting time to form a party". Mostafa Mohsin Montu, president of a faction of Gono Forum, called for unity based on the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War. "There is no alternative to unity in the current political situation. For the last 15 years, people have been deprived of their voting rights. After August 5, the opportunity for change has come." Montu also said that reform proposals must be discussed in parliament, adding, "We want to solve the problems through an elected government." Shamsul Alam, coordinator of Bam Gonotantrik Oikya, said, "The government will be requested to hold elections as soon as possible," while Ismail Samrat, convener of Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad, demanded that the election be held by next June or July. "Awami League loyalists are still in the administration. Prices of goods are rising, and the law-and-order situation is worsening," Samrat added. Meanwhile at a separate event yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said there was no place in his party for those who were involved in killings, corruption and terror activities. He made the comment at the Thakurgaon Public Library during a blanket distribution programme. About removing autocracy, corruption and fascism from the country, he said, "The only way to overcome corruption and fascism is by establishing the people's rule. In other words, there is no alternative to governing the country through a parliament elected by the people." Reforms should be implemented through an elected parliament, who, once in power, could swiftly address the economic, social, political and foreign challenges the country is currently facing, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said yesterday. Stressing the need for polls at the earliest, he also said the reports by the reform commissions formed by the interim government should be discussed in parliament. The BNP leader made the remarks while speaking to reporters after a meeting with some other political parties at the party chairperson's Gulshan office. At the meeting, leaders of Gono Odhikar Parishad (Rashed); Gono Forum, Bam Gonotantrik Oikya; Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad; Peoples Party; and National Awami Party (Bhashani) – parties that previously organised joint movements with BNP against the former Awami League government – expressed their dissatisfaction with the interim government's performance so far. They urged the interim government to hold discussions with political parties and announce an election date, adding that reforms should be carried out through an elected parliament after the polls. They also called for initiatives to bridge the gap among the parties. The leaders criticised the formation of a new political party and vowed to continue opposing the government until their demands are met, meeting sources said. Speaking anonymously, one of the leaders at the meeting said the interim government is likely to take time to form a new party, raising concerns for BNP and others. After the meeting, Gono Adhikar Parishad General Secretary Rashed Khan accused the interim government of avoiding the banning of AL by putting the blame on BNP. "Our clear statement is that we'll build a mass resistance against those who rehabilitate the Awami League." He too blamed the government of "wasting time to form a party". Mostafa Mohsin Montu, president of a faction of Gono Forum, called for unity based on the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War. "There is no alternative to unity in the current political situation. For the last 15 years, people have been deprived of their voting rights. After August 5, the opportunity for change has come." Montu also said that reform proposals must be discussed in parliament, adding, "We want to solve the problems through an elected government." Shamsul Alam, coordinator of Bam Gonotantrik Oikya, said, "The government will be requested to hold elections as soon as possible," while Ismail Samrat, convener of Bangladesh Sadharon Chhatra Odhikar Songrokkhon Parishad, demanded that the election be held by next June or July. "Awami League loyalists are still in the administration. Prices of goods are rising, and the law-and-order situation is worsening," Samrat added. Meanwhile at a separate event yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said there was no place in his party for those who were involved in killings, corruption and terror activities. He made the comment at the Thakurgaon Public Library during a blanket distribution programme. About removing autocracy, corruption and fascism from the country, he said, "The only way to overcome corruption and fascism is by establishing the people's rule. In other words, there is no alternative to governing the country through a parliament elected by the people."

Kansas City (14-1) at Pittsburgh (10-5) Wednesday, 1 p.m., EST, Netflix. BetMGM NFL Odds: Chiefs by 2 1/2. Against the spread: Chiefs 7-8; Steelers 10-5 Series record: Steelers lead 25-14. Last meeting: Chiefs beat Steelers 42-21 in the first round of the playoffs on Jan. 16, 2022, in Kansas City. Last week: Chiefs beat Texans 27-19; Steelers lost to Ravens 34-17 Chiefs offense: overall (13), rush (15), pass (12), scoring (11). Chiefs defense: overall (3), rush (3), pass (17), scoring (3). Steelers offense: overall (19), rush (11), pass (25), scoring (12). Steelers defense: overall (11), rush (8), pass (20), scoring (7). Turnover differential: Chiefs plus-4; Steelers plus-16. Chiefs player to watch WR Marquise Brown, who hurt his shoulder on the first play of the preseason and landed on injured reserve, made an impressive regular-season debut against Houston last week. “Hollywood” caught five passes for 45 yards, including an early 13-yarder that converted a fourth down and led to an eventual touchdown. But perhaps most importantly, Brown’s mere presence kept Houston from double-teaming Xavier Worthy, DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Kelce all afternoon. Steelers player to watch LB T.J. Watt. The perennial All-Pro is dealing with an ankle injury and had a quiet game in the loss to Baltimore, finishing with just four tackles and didn’t have a single hit against Ravens QB Lamar Jackson. Pittsburgh’s best chance at pulling the upset relies heavily on disrupting Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes at every turn. To do it, Watt will need to do some Watt-like things. The 30-year-old leads the NFL in forced fumbles for a defense that thrives on takeaways. Key matchup Steelers RBs Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris against the Chiefs rush defense, which is ranked third in the NFL and allowing just 91.4 yards per game. The Chiefs held the Texans’ Joe Mixon to just 57 yards rushing last week, the latest in a season-long trend of shutting down top running backs. The Browns’ Nick Chubb had 41 yards the previous week, and the Ravens’ Derrick Henry, the Falcons’ Bijan Robinson and the Saints’ Alvin Kamara are among those who have similarly struggled against Kansas City. Key injuries Chiefs: LT D.J. Humphries (hamstring) and CB Chamarri Conner (concussion) are likely to miss a second straight game. DT Chris Jones (calf) and RT Jawaan Taylor (knee) are iffy after getting hurt against Houston. Steelers: WR George Pickens (hamstring) should return after missing the past three games. S DeShon Elliott (hamstring) and DT Larry Ogunjobi (groin) may also be back after sitting the past two weeks. Starting CB Joey Porter Jr. (knee) and backup wide receiver/special teams ace Ben Skowronek (hip) are out. Series notes The Steelers have dominated the series, leading 23-14, but the Chiefs have won the past three games. That includes a 42-21 rout in their most recent matchup in the wild-card round of the playoffs on Jan. 16, 2022 — the last game played by Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Prior to the Chiefs’ three-game win streak, the Steelers had won three in a row, including an 18-16 victory in the divisional round on Jan. 15, 2017, that they won despite not scoring a touchdown. Stats and stuff Kansas City can clinch the No. 1 seed and first-round playoff bye with a win over the Steelers, or if the Bills lose or tie when they play the Jets on Sunday. ... Pittsburgh has dropped two straight, but can still earn its first AFC North title since 2020 by winning its last two games. ... The Chiefs can set a franchise record for regular-season wins with their 15th by beating Pittsburgh or Denver in their regular-season finale, breaking a tie with the 2020 and ‘22 teams. ... The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes needs three TD passes to break Peyton Manning’s record of 244 for a QB’s first eight seasons. Mahomes did not start as a rookie and has played just 111 games while Manning played 128 over that span. ... Mahomes has dominated the Steelers so far in his career, throwing 14 touchdowns without a pick while leading Kansas City to three victories in as many tries. ... Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins has an NFL-leading 177 straight games with a catch. TE Travis Kelce is second with 173. ... Kelce has 76 TD catches, tied with Tony Gonzalez for the Chiefs record. Kelce has 79 total TDs, four shy of Priest Holmes’ franchise record. ... WR Xavier Worthy has five TD catches, tied for the sixth most by a rookie in Chiefs history. Worthy also has three TD runs, and the eight total is also tied for sixth most in franchise history. ... Chiefs DB Trent McDuffie has intercepted a pass in back-to-back games. He did not have a pick in his first 48 games. ... This is the 12th game in Steelers history to be played on Wednesday and the first since 2020, when a showdown with the Ravens was repeatedly postponed because of COVID-19 issues. Pittsburgh is 5-6 all time on Wednesdays. ... A healthy Pickens will likely give the Steelers passing game a serious boost. QB Russell Wilson is averaging just 167.7 yards per game in Pickens’ absence, down from 271 yards per game with Pickens in the lineup. ... This is Pittsburgh’s first regular-season game against a team with 14 wins. ... The Steelers have five wins against the defending Super Bowl champions since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. ... Pittsburgh is 26-12 in Weeks 17 and 18 since the start of the 1990 season, the second-most wins in the NFL over that span behind Green Bay (28). ... The Steelers have won seven straight games and 12 of their past 13 the week following a loss of at least 17 points. ... Pittsburgh leads the NFL with 31 takeaways. and has forced at least two turnovers 11 times. Fantasy tip It might be championship week in your league, so why not turn to a championship quarterback. Mahomes has earned the benefit of the doubt even in a “down” season by his standards and with Pittsburgh missing its top cornerback and the pass rush slowed of late, give Mahomes a start against a team he has toyed with in his career. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl