At the end of 2017, Saudi Arabia made the waves online after announcing the kingdom's plans to lift the ban on women driving. It seems as though ride-hailing applications, Careem and Uber, are taking the lead with plans to hire their first-ever female drivers. 

Both ride-sharing services have, for a long time, been considered the main mode of transportation for women in the kingdom. Saudi women have never been given the opportunity to drive others around. However, that seems to be changing as women will take the driver's seat very soon.

"From the first moment, we announced our willingness to welcome the ladies to work on our platform," Abdullah Elyas, Co-Founder and Chief Privacy Officer at Careem, told CNN.

According to CNN, female users make up 80 percent of Uber's Saudi customer base, whereas 70 percent for Careem. 

The announcement comes months after Dubai-based Careem held its first-ever series of recruitment sessions in the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar, which mainly put a focus on Saudi women who obtained driving licenses abroad.

Careem plans to hire more than 10,000 "female captains" by June 2018, according to CNN.

"Female captains will help us provide a better service to many women who want to travel but refuse to be driven by men," Elyas says. 

Abdullah Al-Mutairi, a spokesperson for the Saudi Public Transport Authority, reassured the public that women drivers will be subject to the "same regulations governing the licensing of men who work in transportation." 

"Those regulations include having a valid Saudi driving license and insurance, and being at least 20 years old," Al-Mutairi said.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia invested $3.5 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in U.S. ride-hailing service Uber.

Within Saudi Arabia alone, Uber has some 130,000 active users. 

That same year, the government-controlled Saudi Telecom company said it will invest $100 million in Careem, raising the company's valuation to $1 billion.

Ricky Martin and his fiancé Jwan Yosef have officially tied the knot!

"I’m a husband, but we’re doing a heavy party in a couple of months," the Puerto Rican pop star, 46, told E! News on Wednesday.

"We exchanged vows, and we’ve swear [sic] everything, and we’ve signed all the papers that we needed to sign, prenups and everything … It feels amazing! I can’t introduce him as my fiancé. I can’t. He’s my husband. He’s my man."

Martin met his Syrian-Swedish artist husband, 33, through Instagram, and they began officially dating in 2016, according to People. In November of 2016, Martin revealed he had proposed to Yosef on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, a popular American daytime talk-show.

"We just got engaged," the renowned internationally singer said at the time. 

"I'm sweating!"

Telling the romantic engagement story, Martin explained: "I got on my knees and I took out the little metal box."

"I just had it in a little velvet pouch and instead of saying, 'Will you marry me?' I said, 'I got you something!' Bad," the singer said. "Then he was like, 'Yes.' I said, 'I want to spend my life with you,' and he was like, 'What is the question?' 'Would you marry me?' That's it."

Martin has previously said that he and Yosef would hold a large Middle Eastern and Latin American infused wedding party. 

"This [wedding] is going to be Middle Eastern and Latin crazy all at once. It’s going to be one loud wedding!" Martin said in 2016. 

As of yet, the couple hasn't hosted such an event, but Martin promised it's still in the works.

"The typical three-day party, the dinner, the rehearsal, the party and the recovery. You'll be the first to know," Martin promised.

Describing his relationship with Yosef, Martin said: "It’s one of those things when you have very beautiful moments, magical moments, magical conversations and beautiful experiences and all this time, you’re thinking, maybe it’s here."

"Then you just go for it and allow yourself to feel … I’m very certain about what’s happening. I’m a hopeless romantic," he added.

Martin's new husband was born in Syria, to a Kurdish father and an Armenian mother. 

The family later immigrated to Sweden, where he studied art at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. He graduated in 2009 and went on to complete an MA in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins in London in 2011.

Yosef's work has been exhibited throughout Europe as well as the United States, but mainly in Stockholm and London, according to a CV posted on his website. 

In collaboration with UNICEF, the couple visited Syrian refugees in Lebanon back in June 2016. After spending time visiting camps in the Bekaa Valley, Martin, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, said the international community needs to "open its heart."

Yosef will join Martin in fathering two twin sons, Valentino and Matteo, who the pop star adopted in 2008.