Barack Obama, the US president, has arrived in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, for the second stop on his 10-day Asia trip. During his much-delayed homecoming of sorts to Indonesia on Tuesday, Obama will seek to engage Muslims and cement strategic relations.

As part of a continuing initiative aimed at improving understanding between Christians and Muslims, a Vatican delegation will be taking part in a three-day discussion on religion and society in Iran.

In June 2009, addressing a packed audience at Cairo University, US President Barack Obama offered Muslims "a new beginning" based on "mutual interest and mutual respect". The speech was well received. The president was riding a wave of goodwill.

It would seem curious if an Indonesian president made an official visit to the United States with the object of engaging with the Christian world rather than with a superpower that separates God and government. So do not expect President Obama to use his visit to the predominantly Muslim land of his boyhood to engage with the wider Muslim community.

In his first year, President Obama made the rebuilding of America’s reputation and partnerships with the Islamic world a central theme of his presidency. His commitment to the development of trusting, respectful cooperation with the Muslim world needs to be rescued, burnished and supported.

President Obama will visit one of the world’s largest mosques and deliver a major address to the people of Indonesia when he visits that island nation next month, in a long-delayed trip that White House officials say will mix childhood reflections with outreach to the Muslim world.

In an interview with France24.com, a top official of the government of South Sudan insisted that an independent South would protect citizens of all faiths, as it has done since gaining autonomy in 2005.

A food fight seems to be brewing. In North America and Europe, the last few months have seen simmering disputes over halal food products, a major part of Muslim life.