The Times 26874

[TioMateo]

I have completed today's Times (Prize) Crossword, knowing that all the answers are correct, and I am not interested in entering the Prize Draw. There are, however, two clues that are irritating me because, although I am 100% sure of the answer in both cases, I cannot for the life of me understand the parsing of the clues. Unless it is not permissible to ask (because it is still an "open" Prize Crossword), I would be grateful for an explanation of the parsing :

6Dn: Joke about which European embodies right growth factor (9). The answer has to be BIRTHRATE (Growth Factor), but why? I can see that BIR could be RIB backwards (but I don't like it because Rib as a verb means to tease, and is not synonymous with joke either as a verb or a noun), but the rest of the word leaves me baffled.
8Dn: Carriers stop traffic entering junctions (8,6). The answer has to be FORKLIFT TRUCKS, but why is LIFT a meaning for "Stop"?

Apologies if I am not supposed to ask theses questions (yet), and if I receive no responses, I will understand why.

[Mamyalynne]

6 Rib, back + (which European) That E round R (Right)

[Lie-in King]

Forklift trucks - 'lift (stop) truck (traffic)' (in) 'forks' (junctions)

Chambers Thesaurus -

lift - ...the ban has been lifted cancel, end, stop...

[vetuste_ennemi]

fork(lift truck)s I think. As in lift a ban etc.