News in 5: Amanda Knox's open letter; Cassie Sainsbury's legal bill; Trump wants death penalty.

1. “We were like sisters.” Amanda Knox writes letter for Meredith Kercher, 10 years after her death.

‘I miss her’ Amanda Knox opens up 10 years after Meredith Kercher murder https://t.co/l8nr9Zpn7a pic.twitter.com/Ak0zdJM8re

— Daily Star (@Daily_Star) November 2, 2017

Ten years after the death of her friend and flatmate Meredith Kercher, cleared murder suspect Amanda Knox, 30, has written an open letter of mourning.

“Ten years ago tonight, my friend was raped and murdered by a burglar when she was home alone in the apartment we shared while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy,” the letter, which was published via Westside Seattle begins.

Kercher, a 21-year-old from London, was found dead on the floor of the bedroom in the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy, on November 1, 2007. Knox, originally from Seattle, USA, was charged and convicted of her friend’s murder. Knox’s Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted.

She spent four years in prison before being acquitted on appeal in 2011. It wasn’t over. The decision was again reversed, and Knox found guilty, before she and Sollecito were cleared again in 2015.

“My memories of Meredith are buried beneath the horrific autopsy photos and crime scene footage I saw, the slurs I was called, the death threats I received (and still receive), the false accusations I fought, the years of wrongful imprisonment I endured, the multiple trials and slanderous headlines that juxtaposed our names and faces, unfairly interlocking her death with my identity,” Knox’s letter reads.

Even still, the now 30-year-old has shared a rare insight into the time she spent with Kercher and the way their lives were, living as two young exchange students on what should have been an adventure of a lifetime.

“I remember when we trudged home from the grocery store together, taking turns lugging those heavy four-packs of two-litre water bottles uphill, dodging cars speeding around the tight street corners,” Knox’s letter reads.

The reaction to the letter has been mixed. Many commenters are applauding Knox for sharing such a heartfelt tribute, others are saying it might be considered offensive to the Kercher family.

Indeed, the Kercher family has been critical of the story being sensationalised in the past. In a rare interview with Daily Mail last year, Meredith's sister Stephanie criticised Netflix for airing a documentary into the death.

In her letter, Knox expresses anger toward those who believe she has "no right" to mourn the death of her friend and denies that she is in anyway responsible.

"There are some people who believe I have no right to mourn Meredith," she writes. "They believe that I had something to do with her murder—I didn’t—or that Meredith has been forgotten in the wake of my own struggle for justice—she hasn’t. Either way, they feel that Meredith and I are inextricably linked, so it’s simply not fair that I haven’t lost everything, as she has. They are wrong."

"I hate it that my memories of her are buried beneath the years of suffering Raffaele and I endured in the wake of her murder. But most depressing of all is that Meredith isn’t here, when she deserves to be. She is painfully missed by everyone who loved her. I miss her, and I’m grateful for the memories of our time together."

To read the full letter in the Westside Seattle, click here.

2. Australian taxpayers to foot Cassie Sainsbury's massive legal bill.

.@chriskkenny: It's disturbing that Cassie Sainsbury's legal fees are reportedly being funded by the taxpayer. #headsup pic.twitter.com/4dgkvHQnvM

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 2, 2017

Yesterday, a Colombian judge accepted a plea deal from convicted drug smuggler Cassie Sainsbury, sentencing her to six years in prison and ordering her to pay a $130,000 fine.

The 22-year-old Adelaide woman pleaded guilty to drug trafficking after nearly six kilograms of cocaine was found in her luggage at Bogota International Airport in April.

The process to reach this deal has been detailed and convoluted and spanned six months and now, Australians are learning just how those legal bills are being paid for.

According to reports from Channel Seven, Sainsbury's $100,000 legal defence is being paid for by Australian taxpayers, and the first installment has been sent in the past fortnight.

"These people (like Cassie) are just victim of bigger criminals," Sainsbury's lawyer, Orlando Herran, told reporters outside the court yesterday.

Other convicted drug smuggles such as Schapelle Corby, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran also had part of their legal bills covered by Australian taxpayers.

3. Donald Trump calls for the death penalty for NYC attacker.

Trump called for the death penalty for NYC terror suspect. Legal experts say that could be a problem for prosecutors https://t.co/b1tqKkdJM2

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 2, 2017

President Donald Trump has again called for the Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people when he drove a truck down a New York City bike path to get the death penalty.

"Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system," Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Twitter on Thursday. "There is also something appropriate about keeping him in the home of the horrible crime he committed. Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!"

Sayfullo Saipov told investigators he was inspired by Islamic State videos and began planning Tuesday's attack a year ago, according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday, AAP reports.

NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017

Saipov, 29, said "he felt good about what he had done" and asked for permission to display the IS flag in his hospital room

Earlier, on Wednesday night Trump tweeted: "NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!"

Saipov faces two charges, one of which carries the death penalty if the government chooses to seek it, Manhattan acting US Attorney Joon Kim said.

The charges are one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles causing the deaths of eight people and one count of providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.

4. IVF clinics under spotlight for putting financial interests ahead of patients.

An Australian study into the commercialisation of in-vitro fertilisation has raised concern some fertility doctors are putting their financial interests ahead of their patients.

The authors of the paper, published in journal Human Fertility, say they found evidence of conflicts of interests among some doctors working within commercial IVF clinics, AAP reports.

This can manifest in couples being offered IVF who don't actually need it or being offered repeated cycles of treatment even whey they aren't likely to succeed, says lead author Dr Brette Blakely, a bioethicist at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University.

"This is obviously significant, not only in financial terms due to the cost to patients - and the government - of multiple cycles, but also the physical and psychological impact on the woman because ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval may be harmful in the short term and potentially the longer term," said Dr Blakely.

A round of IVF can cost up to $12,000 in Australia and there is currently no Medicare limit to the number of cycles that can be reimbursed or the age of the woman receiving IVF.

Dr Blakely says even with such rebates, there is an out of pocket per cycle cost, which can vary from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars, depending on the actual fees set by individual doctors.

With an estimate that one in 25 babies now born in Australia have been conceived using ART, Dr Blakely says there is a need to further investigate the commercialisation of the industry.

5. Sydney man who secretly photographed flatmate fined $3,700.

Sydney man Jiarui Li fined after taking naked photos of flatmate in bathroom https://t.co/uj2Y5KqifE #sydney pic.twitter.com/HqWA5LjzNt

— Sydney News Now (@sydneynewsnow) November 2, 2017

A Sydney man who secretly photographed his naked flatmate confessed to his crime when confronted by the distressed woman's boyfriend.

Jiarui Li, of Strathfield, was convicted and fined $3700 in Burwood Local Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to taking an intimate image without consent, AAP reports.

The court heard the 22-year-old was confronted by the woman's boyfriend in September, about a month after he took four nude photographs of her through a bathroom window opening to a balcony.

The woman had alerted her boyfriend when she thought she noticed a camera flash while standing in front of the bathroom mirror, according to a statement of facts tendered in court.

Li, a Chinese resident in Australia on a student visa, told police he acted out of curiosity.

His victim was severely affected by the incident and broke down while giving a statement to police, in which she shared her concern that the images could have been distributed to others.

6. Kevin Spacey seeks 'treatment' following sexual harassment allegations.

All the times Difficult People has joked about Kevin Spacey: https://t.co/lV4F2L1v3E pic.twitter.com/oUaliqzsBo

— Slate (@Slate) November 2, 2017

Actor Kevin Spacey is seeking treatment in light of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

"Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment," said his representative in a statement to Variety. "No other information is available at this time."

Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos and American documentary filmmaker Tony Montana have come forward with accounts of how Spacey allegedly made unwanted advances and even groped one of them, AAP reports.

The new accusations follow the allegation by actor Anthony Rapp that Spacey sexually assaulted him in the 1980s when he was just 14 and Spacey was 26.

Spacey apologised in a widely criticised statement in which he said he was "beyond horrified" by Rapp's account, adding that he did not recall the incident.

Production on the sixth and final season of Netflix's House of Cards, in which Spacey plays the lead role of Frank Underwood, has been suspended.