Greetings. Loads of bread and bananas already stocked to keep me going through the week...I overslept so I could only do a quick run at the gym but, given the vastness of this Conference Centre, I may be able to get all the exercise I need simply by moving from meeting to meeting inside this facility.

But there have been winners as well. Hong Kong Disneyland announced its first ever sell-out and Ocean Park saw a 40% jump in attendence thanks to many schools shutting for the day. So at least Hong Kong's taxpayers will get some benefit from the conference.

Below the jump is a telling photo from today's SCMP. As I said yesterday, it seems the media and police are far outnumbering the few "militant" protesters. Can you say "manufactured for the media" and "publicity stunt"? If the most militant thing these Korean peasants can do is swim in Victoria Harbour, then full power to them.

Other links

This will be updated throughout the day. You can also follow the Curbside at WTO site for more reports.

• The Standard has an image gallery of various photos from the protests.
• A few facts and figures on the meeting. It turns out the government spent HK$250 million on the meeting, including 700 civil servants as volunteers and 9,000 cops for security.
• A report of what's happening inside the ministerial meetings.
• A brief media digest of what both Chinese and English media are reporting on the WTO.
• Here's the piece I mentioned yesterday in The Standard on the lack of local support for the anti-globalisation crowd.
• Another pro-free trade event being organised by the Lion Rock Institute. Don't let the anti crowd have all the fun!
• The Wall St Journal says Welcome to Hong Kong, again pointing out how this city is one of the best advertisements for globalisation and free trade.
• What delegates think about Hong Kong's WTO ads.
• It's 12:45 and the TV is showing the standoff between the Korean peasants and cops. Plenty of pepper spray, a bit of push and shove...and that's just the media! Best of all was a temporary truce, negotiated so one protester could retrive his shoe. This could be a game of inches...it looks like the police line has retreated exactly 3 inches since yesterday, which just leaves 20,000 more to the convention centre. The Koreans are wearing Glad Wrap over their eyes and ears to protect themselves from the pepper spray. It doesn't appear to be helping.
• Dan Drezner reveals the various types of agricultural subsidies that exist.
• Now it's almost 13:00, the Korean farmers had a go at the police line, kicking and punching, but were met with a wall of pepper spray a judicial kick in the privates. I've rung the Jockey Club but they aren't taking bets on this one, which is a shame because the cops are dominating at the moment. This is great lunchtime entertainment. And now the farmers have backed off for a smoke break. This is rioting at its most civilised. Now there's a musical interlude - guys with yellow flags in their hats are banging drums and dancing...but the cops don't seem tempted to join in. Half-time entertainment!
• What the Chinese press thinks of the Korean protesters.
• For some high-brow analysis, the Global Economy Journal has several articles dedicated to covering the Doha round. And Foreign Affairs magazine has a special WTO free trade edition (via Ben Muse).
• More proof of how civilised this protest is: the Koreans just handed over a police shield back to the cops.
• Harry Hutton notes that Columbian girl Santas are non-tradeable goods.
• Richard Welford takes issue with the reporting of the WTO protests.
• Asia Times looks at the WTO protesters and what they're on about: WTO hype and all that junk.
• It's 14:30 and looks like lunchtime is over - a group of perhaps 40 Korean protesters charged the police line, to be greeted with oodles of pepper spray (it looks just like silly string). The cops haven't budged an inch and are giving as good as they're getting. Give 'em hell, boys. That said, the media is getting desperate - they're starting to replay highlights from the morning session and one even cut across to other news.
• Josephy Stiglitz on the failure and problems with the Doha round.
• The WTO can promote both free trade and human rights.
• Pascal Lamy has updated his blog, noting the gulf between the public's perception and reality of the WTO. It's an interesting insight into to mind of a key player in these talks.
• Do these Korean farmers realise the water bottles they are using to wash the pepper spray out of their eyes is Bonaqua, owned by the Coca-Cola company?
• Here's a pro-free trade blog covering the ins and outs of the ministerial conference and negotiations. And another by a pro-trade economist.
• Huge uproar over a TV reporter who donned a helmet despite not being in danger.
• It's now 19:30, and the protesters are holding a candlelight vigil. Besides freezing their butts off, many are wearing green hats...and green hat means something quite amusing in Chinese.