I go back to one of my favourite examples:
”There are 9 million bicycles in Beijing – that’s a fact, a thing you cannot change.”
I still insist, if there are indeed 9 million bicycles in Beijing – you may have a heist that removes a number of bicycles from Beijing – meaning there are no longer 9 million bicycles. So, it is not actually a “fact, a thing you cannot change.”
Katie Melua, may have been better off stating that ‘There are at least 9 million bicycles’.
Also, a fact can change. An hour ago it was raining outside my window. Now, it has ceased to rain. It may have been previously a fact – but that fact has changed.