[Natalie Allen, Cnn Anchor:] And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate you joining us. I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories this hour. Eighty-nine South Koreans are now in North Korea for brief reunions with relatives they have not seen in decades we're talking some 70 years. Can you imagine? Thousands of families were separated by the Korean War in 1950 and many have had little or no contact since. They are adopted. Monday marks an economic milestone for Greece. The country is emerging from three bailouts after a nearly nine-year debt crisis and painful austerity measures. Public debt is still the highest in the Eurozone but the economy has started to grow, unemployment is coming down and tourism is strong. A British woman is safe on dry land after get this spending a long night in the Adriatic Sea. She says she fell off the back of a cruise ship and tread water for close to 10 hours that's some good treading. She was rescued by the Croatian Coast Guard. No word on how she fell off the ship. Venezuela's economic and humanitarian crisis could soon become even more devastating. New economic measures announced by President Nicolas Maduro are set to begin in a few hours. And many Venezuelans rushed to supermarkets over the weekend because they are nervous it could get even harder to find and afford food and other basic necessities. Meantime Venezuelan refugees face more backlash as they try to flee to other Latin American countries. For more about this part of the story, here is CNN's Rafael Romo.
[Rafael Romo, Cnn Correspondent:] The constant stream of refugees out of Venezuela is putting a lot of pressure on neighboring countries. Let's take, for example, the border town of Pacaraima in Brazil where a mob attacked a group of Venezuelan immigrants over the weekend. They also destroyed a camp where the immigrants were staying setting their belongings on fire. This attack prompted a group of about 1,200 Venezuelan refugees to rush back into their own country. Last week, two other countries in the region announced restrictive measures affecting Venezuelan nationals. Ecuadorian officials said Venezuelan migrants will have to show their passport and not just an I.D. before being allowed to enter its territory although we noticed the new rule wasn't being enforced, that immigrants were still crossing into Ecuador. Peru announced Friday, it will do the same. Some immigrants say they were taken by surprise by the new measures as they were traveling in Colombia on their way to Ecuador and Peru.
[Unidentified Female:] We were already on our way here when they started asking us to show our passports because they were no longer going to accept ND and ID card. That's why we're so worried. Many of us may spend the night here waiting for an answer.
[Romo:] Meanwhile, Venezuelans at home are bracing for the effects of new economic measures announced Friday by President Nicolas Maduro that are supposed to go into effect Monday. First of all, the president decreed a 60-fold increase on the minimum wage. Employers don't know if they will have enough money to pay employees although Maduro says the government will provide assistance for 90 days. Also Monday, the government is removing five zeros from the Venezuelan currency dropping its value by more than 90 percent. Many merchants closed their doors over the weekend unable to understand how to change prices to reflect the new currency while shoppers rushed to supermarkets and gas stations that remained open. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela's inflation may hit one million percent by the end of the year. Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.
[Allen:] Jennifer McCoy joins me now to talk more about it. She is a distinguished university professor of political science at Georgia State University here in Atlanta. Thanks for being with us Jennifer.
[Jennifer Mccoy, Georgia State University:] Thanks so much.
[Allen:] Let me ask you first, it is hard to fathom the situation in Venezuela getting any worse. And now we learn that Nicolas Maduro is going to print new currency, lop off some zeros because its other currency is just about worthless because he was overprinting to try to fight inflation. How desperate is this plan?
[Mccoy:] Well, a lot of people are confused by the plan. So we're not exactly sure how it is going to work out. But I think that right now, the people in Venezuela are very anxious and trying to you know they've been trying to their money out of banks, what little they have, before it gets devalued even more because after tomorrow, if you had savings in the bank you would be getting out an equivalent of about 4 percent of what you had previously. So it's a huge deal for them.
[Allen:] Right. Here is another example of the confusion. Shop owners don't want to open their doors because they don't know what to charge. They also don't know if people are going to come in because they may not have any money to buy. Plus Maduro is now saying he is increasing minimum wage what is it 60-fold? So how can they even pay their employees? And really again, it is all the citizens that are struggling in this.
[Mccoy:] They really are struggling. And you know, lopping off the zeros helps because before it what they called the wheelbarrow money. You had to bring in so much a wheelbarrow full of money. But it is hard for people to even get cash because the government has not had the funds to buy the paper to print enough of that old worthless currency. So we will see if this improves it. Paying the new minimum salary Maduro says he's going to help small businesses, pay it for the next three months. But what happens after that is another question.
[Allen:] Right. Meantime more Venezuelans are trying to just get out. And now they are being blocked by other countries Brazil, Peru, even Ecuador is requiring passports. So this puts the poor citizens in a terrible quagmire. They're kind of trapped. They're getting trapped.
[Mccoy:] They certainly are. And there are people at the borders in Ecuador and in Peru. The requirement for a passport may not seem like a big deal but the problem is people have not been able to get passports in Venezuela. There've been long lines for them. And the government hasn't again had the money to actually buy the paper for the passports. And so there is a long, long wait for them. So if they can't get into other countries, they are stuck on the borders. People have been traveling, walking, taking buses for days and weeks. And now they are just stuck overnight.
[Allen:] So, is there any reasonable way out of this economic disaster for Nicolas Maduro. The United States has had a hands-off policy. They've encouraged other countries to isolate him. What next for him as far as any move moves he has other than what he's doing now? Anything?
[Mccoy:] Well, you know, people have been waiting for five years since he was elected for him to take some real economic policy changes. He seems to be doing that now. But it's very anxiety-producing. This new currency is going to be based on something completely new what he's calling the petro which is a crypto currency based on the price of oil with oil backing it up. This is the first time this has been done in the world. Other than that, the financial sanctions that the United States and other countries have on him are waiting, the requirement to lift them is that he improve the human rights abuses and the democratic situation and have free and fair elections. So far he's not been going to do that.
[Allen:] That certainly would be a goodwill move that would get the attention of the world. But you are right, that is not happening. We appreciate you joining us so much, Professor Jennifer McCoy of Georgia State thank you.
[Mccoy:] Thank you.
[Allen:] There are signs a ceasefire could be getting underway in Afghanistan. President Ashraf Ghani announced a deal on Sunday to mark the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday. If the Taliban agrees the truce could last three months. It's still not clear how the militant group will react. They have not formally accepted but say they will release hundreds of prisoners for the holiday. Last week, the Taliban was sending a very different message. Their failed offensive on the city of Ghazni reportedly killed hundreds of people. For a look at the terms of the ceasefire and whether the Taliban will accept, let's go to CNN's Ivan Watson. He joins me now, live from Hong Kong. It's remarkable we're talking about a three-month truce, and that certainly would be welcome for so many people in Afghanistan.
[Ivan Watson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Absolutely. Absolutely. It's a dramatic offer from the Afghan President after what has been the deadliest first six months of the year for civilians in Afghanistan in a decade. So Ashraf Ghani, the president published a series of tweets announcing quote, "We announce a ceasefire that would take effect from tomorrow, Monday, the day of Arafat until the day of the birth of the Prophet Milad un Nabi provided that the Taliban reciprocates." That's important. But also that holiday is roughly November 20th through November 21st. So he is proposing a three-month ceasefire. He goes on to write quote, "We call in the leadership of the Taliban to welcome the wishes of Afghans for a long lasting and real peace and we urge them to get ready for peace talks based on Islamic values and principles." Now this has been embraced by the Secretary General of NATO, by the Pakistani foreign ministry and by the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who went on in a statement to say quote, "We remain ready to support, facilitate, and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban." That is a statement from the U.S. Secretary of State that came out in the aftermath of the Afghan government ceasefire Natalie. So the question is, how will the Taliban respond to this proposal? Well they put out on Sunday, roughly the same time that Ashraf Ghani put out his proposal their own lengthy statement in conjunction with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and it talked about celebrating what the Taliban claimed were big successes on the battlefield against the Afghan government and the U.S. government. It made no mention of a ceasefire proposal which perhaps the Taliban had not heard about it yet. And went on to saying quote, "Since the ongoing war in Afghanistan is the birth child of American occupation, therefore we have and continue to insist on direct talks with America to bring it to an end." So again, we are waiting to hear whether or not the Taliban would be open to this three-month ceasefire proposal. There was a brief ceasefire, Natalie, back in June at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban have also announced that they plan to release hundreds of prisoners on Monday in conjunction with this Muslim holiday. And we'll just keep you up to date if we learn about anything further Natalie.
[Allen:] It sounds hopeful, but just to reiterate again, Mike Pompeo has said that he would like to see dialogue, like to see talks. And now you have the Taliban saying well, they want that too. That sounds encouraging doesn't it?
[Watson:] Yes. The Taliban and there have been reports that U.S. diplomats and the Taliban met in Qatar, in Doha at the end of July for negotiations. The key issue though is the killing, you know. The Afghan capital had a terrible week last week with a number of brutal and deadly attacks. This month you had the Taliban sweep into the city of Ghazni which is quite close to Kabul. This has hurt morale deeply in places like Kabul, both the loss of life and the setbacks that the Afghan government security forces have faced on a number of different fronts around the country. And there are some analysts who would argue that the Taliban is gaining ground and according to U.S. military figures, they control or dispute at least 35 percent of Afghan population centers right now Natalie.
[Allen:] All right. We will wait to see what happens next. Ivan Watson following it for us. Ivan thank you. A top Iranian official says his country might be ready to make a deal with President Trump but there are conditions. CNN's exclusive interview with Iran's foreign minister that's coming next. Plus, a post MeToo Kevin Spacey movie appears in U.S. theaters and the box office sales speak for themselves. We'll tell you what they are.