CIA Director David Petraeus has given his resignation to President Obama today, citing having an extra-marital affair.

Petraeus vacated his rank of General in the U.S. Army to take command at the CIA in 2011 following Leon Panetta’s move to the Department of Defense. Petraeus, the architect of the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, had previously been seen as unassailable politically by many on the right and left.

President Obama issued a statement on Petraeus’ resignation, saying, “By any measure, [Petraeus] was one of the outstanding General officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end.”

“I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission, and I have the utmost confidence in Acting Director Michael Morell and the men and women of the CIA who work every day to keep our nation safe,” the President’s statement continued.

Petraeus’ wife, Holly Petraeus, also serves in the administration at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The abrupt resignation comes days ahead of hearings before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and House Select Intelligence Committee over the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi.

Today the White House denied rumors that Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s top advisers, is allegedly negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program. The story has proliferated in predominantly right-wing news outlets but Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told Fox News that “there is not a shred of truth to this report. It’s completely false.”

On October 21, Front Page Magazine, a fringe right-wing news outlet, reported on a New York Times story about an agreement that the Obama administration had with the Iranian government to negotiate one-on-one regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Front Page claimed that Jarrett “is almost certainly pushing for an Iranian agreement to nail down his ‘legacy.’” Then on Monday, Israeli media outlet YNet reported that Jarrett is the “key player behind the secret talks between the US and Iran.” The story cited vague “state officials” as the sources for the story.

Fox News then picked up the story, citing Iranian news blogs as “heating up” about her role but adding that the “claims of the blog have not been independently verified, and it isn’t clear how the blogger, who didn’t cite official sources, would know such details.” From there, Fox explains why “her name would come up in rumors of such talks,” and lists shaky evidence such as the baseless claim that Jarrett “urged Obama on three different occasions to cancel” the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Media Matters fully discredited the bin Laden raid claim, noting that “on the dates Obama was alleged to have canceled the ‘mission,’ there wasn’t yet a ‘mission’ to cancel.” Moreover, the White House said she “wasn’t read into super-secret plans for the raid that took place in May of 2011,” adding that the claim was an “utter fabrication.”

So, why was Jarrett’s name thrown into the story? It seems to boil down to the fact that she was born in Iran where her father once worked. Jarrett moved to the United States from Iran as a young child. Both Fox News and Ynet prominently feature Jarrett’s Iranian background in their stories. Fox News claimed that “[m]any believe she speaks Farsi, or Persian, the official language of Iran.”

Today, Fox host Martha MacCallum highlighted Jarrett’s Iranian connection, wondering if she could “bridge a relationship there” or make “arrangements” for other negotiations in the future. But even right-wing hawk John Bolton, rarely a friend to the Obama administration, wasn’t buying it, though Bolton said he wouldn’t “put it past” the Obama administration to do such a thing, claiming it would be “malpractice” to even consider Jarrett as an adviser.

The Chinese government blocked Google websites today in what appears to be part of an escalating crack down on Chinese Internet users as the Communist Party goes through a leadership transition. Despite being the fifth most trafficked site in China, Google had previously considered leaving the Chinese market altogether in 2010 in response to Chinese filtering and a cyber attack on Gmail servers.

While Google’s Youtube has been blocked in China since 2009, today’s move affects all the core Google services, including Gmail, Play, Docs, Maps, and Analytics. The block on Google Analytics could have particularly complex repercussions for the web outside of China because it means Chinese users will not be tracked on the thousands of websites using the analytics tool.

Most reports indicate a relatively conservative economic and political block may be taking power in the current leadership transition, signaling trouble for foreign companies doing business in China–especially online, like Google. That conservative block already considers social media a thorn in its side, and likely won’t take as kindly to the type of criticism now being thrown at outgoing Chinese President Hu Jintao over social media. The threat of this unbridled freedom of expression may be the driving force behind the regime’s decision to block Google and other services key to routing Chinese censorship: Users have also reported difficulty accessing virtual private networks (VPNs) in recent weeks, a tool frequently relied on by users in China and other countries with limited online freedom to bypass restrictions.

China isn’t the first country to block Google services — their actions mirror Iran’s block in September, which was only partially lifted to allow Gmail access after complaints from Iranian officials. While China and its Great Fire Wall are largely discussed as among the most complex and restrictive Internet filtering regimes, Iran has been working towards cutting itself off from the internet entirely and replacing it with a closet network. The equipment behind that closed intranet was manufactured by Chinese company Huawei. The U.S. announced sanctions against Reza Taghipour, the minister behind Iran’s internet censorship program, citing his role in jamming satellite television broadcasts and restricting Internet connectivity. It’s highly unlikely China will face similar repercussions for their online censorship.