French pair held until trial after boys abandoned by road in Portugal

A French woman and her partner will remain in custody after allegedly abandoning her two young boys on a roadside in the south of Portugal, a court has ruled.The boys were found on Tuesday evening crying beside a road near Alcacer do Sal, about 100km (60 miles) south of Lisbon. The woman and her partner, identified by authorities as Marine R and Marc B, were arrested in Fatima on Thursday.As they were being led into court on Saturday morning, the man shouted "I love you" in French and the boys' mother sang.A judge subsequently ordered the pair be placed in pre-trial detention, French and Portuguese media report. They are accused of aggravated assault, endangerment and abandonment of the boys.In Portugal, suspects must be brought before a judge within 48 hours of their arrest to decide whether they remain in custody or are released ahead of their trial.The couple have already been questioned by investigators for several hours. Meanwhile, the children, who are aged four and five, are with a French foster family in Lisbon and are expected to return to France.Authorities told the Setubal courthouse that the two boys had been living with their 41-year-old mother in the eastern French city of Colmar, while their father had limited and supervised visitation rights, local media report.