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03.03 - Spain Today News 26 August 2026 · Spain Today - Last Spanish News

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  Welcome to Spain Today news everyone.
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  And you know, before we jump into today's deep dive, make
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  sure to follow the channel to not miss any chapter.
• 0:06
  Right. Yeah, definitely hit that follow
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  button. Yeah.
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  So our mission today is really to dig into these these powerful
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  forces that are shaping Spain right now, because we're seeing
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  some wild stuff like unprecedented political
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  maneuvers in the capital, these extreme environmental contrasts,
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  and then just pure athletic dominance out in the mountains.
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  Yeah, it's, well, it's a really fascinating stack of sources
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  we've got today. It really is.
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  Because, you know, we try so hard to put reality into these
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  neat little boxes, right? But these forces, you know,
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  whether it's political currents or severe weather, they just,
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  they always push. Back.
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  Oh, absolutely. So let's let's unhack this
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  political push for control first.
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  OK, let's do it. Because the government just
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  bypassed Congress and passed this decree, it creates A
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  mandatory public electronic registry for lobbyists.
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  Right the the new registry. Yeah.
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  So basically anyone trying to influence public officials and
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  this includes like temporary staff and advisors?
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  Yep. Even the advisors.
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  They now have to have all their meetings published on the
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  transparency portal within 30 days, which I look at this and I
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  kind of think of it like like a mandatory read receipt for
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  political influence. A read receipt?
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  Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
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  They're calling it a, a normative footprint, which, you
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  know, sounds great on paper, but here is where I'm kind of stuck.
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  OK, how exactly does the Council of Transparency enforce tracking
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  like indirect communications? Well, yeah, I mean that is the
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  crucial question. Yeah, because a phone call is.
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  Exactly. Tracking a formal sit down in a
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  minister's office? That's easy, right?
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  But tracking a casual phone call or, you know, a whispered
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  conversation somewhere, It's notoriously difficult.
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  How? Do they?
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  Do it. So the 30 day publication rule
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  is basically designed to align Spain with EU and OEC debt
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  standards. It fills this really crucial
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  regulatory gap and it does it in partially.
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  It's not about sides, it's about transparency.
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  But what? About shadow lobbying.
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  Right. So if there are, say, drastic
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  policy changes, but the footprint is totally empty, it
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  raises a red flag, It creates a paper trail so we can see how
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  policies get shaped behind closed doors.
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  OK. So that political desire for
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  control, you know, makes perfect sense, but it really kind of
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  hits a brick wall when you look at what's happening with the
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  environment today. Oh man.
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  Because you can mandate a reporting window, but you cannot
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  mandate the weather. You really can't.
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  Right now, the climate map of Spain looks completely
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  fractured. I mean, you look at Barcelona
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  and the Cultarola wildfire just burned through 35 hectares and
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  they had to confine the Tory borough and Sea Tap Meridiana
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  neighborhoods. Right.
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  And they evacuated, what, 35 locals?
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  Yeah, 35 locals evacuated right from the front lines.
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  They even had to completely halt the R4 commuter trains.
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  Wow. And you know, that required over
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  230 firefighters deployed just to stabilize it.
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  Over 230. Yeah.
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  And the crazy part is this is actually the second major fire
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  in Kulsarola. This August alone.
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  See, that's wild. But here's where the contrast
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  gets even crazier, OK? Because while Barcelona is
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  battling these flames and Mediterranean regions like
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  Valencia are baking in, you know, 35° heat.
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  Right, it's sweltering there. You look at the forecast for
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  Wednesday. In the northwest, Galicia is
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  getting hammered by violent hail and 70 kilometer per hour winds.
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  It's yeah, it's extreme. So with these severe
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  simultaneous events, I mean, are we just seeing a permanent split
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  in regional emergency realities? Well, it certainly feels that
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  way right now and it all really comes down to this high pressure
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  system, OK? How so?
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  So there's this massive high pressure system parked directly
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  over the Mediterranean. Like a giant invisible lid just
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  trapping the heat. Precisely.
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  It acts like a heat Dome for places like Valencia and
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  Catalonia, baking everything and creating this literal tinderbox.
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  Wow. OK, but then that same high
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  pressure Dome acts as a physical wall in the atmosphere.
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  Oh. So it blocks the other weather.
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  Exactly. It forces these Atlantic storm
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  fronts to squeeze up and over the northwest corner of the
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  peninsula, so all that concentrated energy gets
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  unleashed over Galusha. Right, bringing the hail in the
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  wind. Yeah, so you end up with two
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  entirely different extreme realities coexisting inside the
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  exact same borders. Man, it's just nature completely
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  refusing to be contained, which honestly is the perfect
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  transition. Oh yeah.
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  Yeah, because while communities are battling nature, we have
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  athletes out there trying to conquer.
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  It Yes love well. Done.
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  Exactly. Let's talk about Toddish Pogicar
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  in stage 4 of Livuelta in Andorra.
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  I mean pure dominance. There's just no other way to
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  describe it. It was unreal.
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  He launched a 50 kilometer solo breakaway on the Collada debates
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  out. 50 kilometers. Uphill entirely by himself and
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  he won by two minutes and 39 seconds, which secures him this
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  three minute and 21 second general lead over his main rival
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  Roglick, right? But I want to push back a bit on
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  the narrative here. OK.
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  What do you mean? Just a 3 minute lead this early
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  in the race just like kill the suspense?
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  Or does it force incredibly desperate aggressive tactics
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  from guys like Moss and Roglick going into stage 5 and Tarragon?
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  Oh, it absolutely forces their hand.
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  It guarantees aggression. You.
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  Think so? Oh yeah.
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  Because, well, if you look at the mechanics of what Pogo card
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  did, it's mind boggling, right? Doing a 50 kilometer solo uphill
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  breakaway requires this astronomical wattage output, and
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  he's fighting aerodynamic drag completely alone.
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  He doesn't have a team to draft behind.
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  It's almost insulting to the laws of human Physiology.
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  It really is. I mean, it totally echoes his
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  historic 2019 victory in Andorra, right?
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  Because he thrives on these explosive 0 flat meter days.
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  So the traditional playbook for the Chasers is just it's out the
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  window now They. Can't just hang back.
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  No, they can't ride defensively in the peloton anymore.
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  They're going to have to take massive risks to close that gap.
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  He hasn't killed the race, he's completely shifted the
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  psychology of it. Wow.
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  So, you know, we've looked at complex electronic registries
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  trying to track human influence. Yeah.
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  And advanced meteorology, mapping out heat domes and hail
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  storms. We use all this technology to
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  try and predict and control everything.
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  We do, but it really makes you wonder about the limits of that
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  control. Exactly.
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  I mean, as things get more advanced in the coming years we
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  can predict political shifts and climate disasters, but will pure
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  human willpower like a completely irrational 50
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  kilometer uphill breakaway? Right, you can't model that.
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  Right. Will that be the only truly
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  unpredictable variable we have left?
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  It's a great question. Something to chew on.
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  Thanks for being with us at Spain today, and remember to
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  come tomorrow for more Spanish news in English.