By Sybille de La Hamaide

PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) - World food prices climbed in March to their highest level since September last year and could rise further if the Middle East conflict that pushed up energy prices continues, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

"Price rises since the conflict began have been modest, driven mainly by higher oil prices and cushioned by ample global cereal supplies," FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said in a statement.

A container ship declaring itself to have a French owner has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according Marine Traffic data analysed by AFP Friday.

The Maltese-flagged Kribi belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM crossed the strait -- which has been virtually blocked by Iran since early in the Middle East war -- to exit the Gulf on Thursday afternoon, the maritime tracking website showed.

BEIJING, April 2 (Reuters) - Negotiations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are advancing steadily, China said on Friday following reports that the South Asian neighbours were meeting there to try to end their worst conflict since ‌the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

China, which shares a western border with both nations, has been trying to mediate between the allies turned foes, holding telephone calls with their foreign ministers and sending a special envoy on visits in March.

PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) - Rima Hassan, a French far-left member of the European Parliament, will face trial in July over a comment she posted on X last month about a 1970s attack on an Israeli airport, the Paris prosecutor's office said late on Thursday.

Authorities arrested Hassan and detained her in custody for several hours on Thursday because they suspected the post made on March 26 and later erased could be construed as showing support for terrorism.

Iran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief, a former Iranian foreign minister said.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served as foreign minister from 2013-2021, claimed in an op-ed for American journal Foreign Affairs that Tehran had the "upper hand" in the conflict against the US and Israel, but argued Iran needed to stop the war to prevent the loss of more civilian lives and damage to infrastructure.

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Easter mass cancelled -

All masses in Dubai have been cancelled because of the war, two Catholic churches in the United Arab Emirates posted on their websites.

- 'France' ship -

A container ship declaring itself to have a French owner has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Marine Traffic data analysed by AFP.

By Christine Chen and Cordelia Hsu

SYDNEY, April 3 (Reuters) - Every Easter, Sydney retiree Elsa Ulcak is one of the millions of Australians that hit the road to travel during the four-day-long weekend.

But this year, she has cancelled her trip with her husband because she could not justify how much petrol her getaway would use.

"We usually go to the countryside, but because of the petrol situation, we decided to stay at home this year," said Ulcak, 67.

A long trip would be costly and also consume fuel that could be used by people who needed it more, she said.

By Heejin Kim and Joyce Lee

SEOUL, April 3 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday they planned to boost defence cooperation and work together to address the economic and energy crises triggered by the war in Iran.

Macron arrived in South Korea on Thursday for a two-day state visit after also visiting Japan, and held a summit in Seoul on Friday.

Iranian and American forces were racing each other early Saturday to recover a crew member of the first US fighter jet to go down inside Iran since the start of the war.

Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane, while US media reported American special forces had rescued one of its two crew members, with the other still missing.

Iran's military also said it downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf, with US media saying the pilot was rescued.

By Gram Slattery, Andrea Shalal, Andrew Gray and John Irish

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/PARIS, April 3 (Reuters) - The NATO alliance has in recent years survived existential challenges - ranging from the war in Ukraine to multiple bouts of pressure and insults from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has questioned its core mission and threatened to seize Greenland.

But it is the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, thousands of miles from Europe, that has nearly broken the 76-year-old bloc and threatens to leave it in its weakest state since its creation, say analysts and diplomats.